Frozen Chakra and Herbs
by Hawk wing
Summary: He's almost crossed death's doorway countless times when he had chakra. Now, with Konoha unable to reach him, Kakashi's alone and has practically shook hands with death, himself, numerous times. on HIATUS until my college classes end this semester, sorry
1. Chapter 1

**EDIT 3/23/2008:** for those who are just now starting this story...i had to go back and add in the freakin line breaks because they just had to go and no longer accept dashes and what not for line breaks...that's a total of over 30 chapters for me to have to go back and fix...if you find anything wrong with something please notify me...but nothing should go wrong since that lil export button is quite handy lmao

hello! this fic was a weird idea that came to me one boring morning so plz bear with me on that lol and it takes place after the time skip. First fanfic was written with POV's but i decided to attempt this one in this 3rd person format (i think it's third person, me dunno) so bear with me on that too lol

rating for a just in case and for what might come later on

Disclaimer: i don't own anything that is related to Naruto (only a lil wrist band thingy that i bought a while back and that's it **:sobs:**)

p.s. (why did i put p.s.??) anyways i don't know if Sakura says Shananaro, i highly doubt it but she does now lmao

* * *

They were surrounded and fighting hard. Their mission had already been accomplished and they were heading home when a group of enemy ninja spotted them and attacked. Sakura was scaring most of them since most of the enemy were guys and she could destroy boulders with just one fist. But that still didn't deter the enemy enough. Naruto and Sai were fighting hard and fast and Naruto's clones were doing some serious damage. Kakashi was taking down 3 – 4 at a time with each attack. All four of them were careful not to get to close to the edge. It was a long drop to the river.

"Shananaro!"

That was the boys' cue from Sakura to jump. As they did she hit the ground with both her fists hard, disrupting the ground rock and boulders. The enemy lost their balance and all four of them took advantage, defeating almost every one of them. The few that were left gathered some of their comrades and left quickly.

"Heck yeah! We won!" Naruto yelled while jumping up and down. "And it's all thanks to Sakura-chan!"

Sakura smiled and blushed a little. "Not really."

"Don't be so modest Sakura-chan." Naruto jumped up onto a new boulder and looked around. "How far away from the village are we still?"

"We've still got about two weeks of traveling ahead of us," Kakashi answered.

"Awwww, I want some ramen right now though." Naruto jumped down.

Sakura rolled here eyes. "You and your ramen."

Naruto looked at her a little hurt. "Yeah, what's that supposed to mean?"

The ground under them started to fall. All four of them tried to jump to the forest edge. Naruto was bringing up the rear with Kakashi in front of him a little ways. A scream caught Kakashi's attention and when he looked back he saw Naruto get hit by a boulder. Sakura and Sai had started to jump back towards their friend.

Kakashi looked up at them, "Keep going!"

He jumped back down to Naruto who was just about to go over the precipice. His pupil was still a little dazed, but at least he was conscious. "Naruto, you've got to jump!"

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura screamed.

Kakashi looked down and saw the river coming up fast as well as a cave in the cliff side. It was coming fast and he had to move quickly. He focused chakra into his feet to cling to a nearby rock and grabbed Naruto. When the cave was almost level with him he threw Naruto towards it. Looking up as it passed he barely saw his student's body fly into the hole as splashing came to his ears. When he looked down the river was greeting him fast.

"Kakashi-sensei, Naruto!" Sakura and Sai jumped down from the tree and went to the sturdier edge. When they looked down they saw the last of the debris falling into the chaotic river. Sakura fell to her knees as tears started falling from her eyes. Sai stood there looking down to cliff, not sure on how to help her.

"Sakura-san look."

Sakura looked down the edge and saw Naruto leaning out from the cliff side. "Naruto! Are you alright?"

He looked up. "I'm fine, just a little headache that's all. Hey, is Kakashi-sensei with you guys?"

"No, we thought he was with you," she yelled back.

All three of them froze and looked at the river that had become rapids now.

"There's no way he could survive that," Sai said quietly.

Sakura shook her head. "No, there's got to be a way. It's Kakashi-sensei after all." She looked back down at Naruto. "Naruto, get up here, we've got to find sensei!"

"Give me some rope!"

Sai dug out his rope as Sakura ran off trying to find a way to get down safely to the river.

Sora walked by the river's edge. She was hunting for some more herbs and also trying to figure out where all the rocks and trees were coming from in the watercourse. As she climbed a small, clear hillock she looked back and saw her village nestled in the trees a ways away. The current was echoing strongly below her as it continued to cut through the knoll. She walked on. Near the bottom the shrubbery and trees started up thick again, but it didn't bother her too much until the game trail weaved away from the river. That's when she had to cut her own path to keep an eye on the water. Another tree floated by.

It's so weird that all these trees are in this river, she thought. My village isn't logging up this way.

She was coming up to where a tributary joined the main river. It left a small island on the edge of the waterway because the tributary fed into the other in two different places.

An avalanche couldn't have happened this early in the year, could it? The snows have come early to the mountain tops, she continued contemplating.

Crossing the ford she came to the little island and walked along its edge to the other side. Upon reaching it she froze. Lying on the gravel shore was a man. His clothing was soaked and torn and was weird looking too.

"Excuse me," she quietly asked.

No answer.

"Hello? Are you alright?" she said more loudly.

Still nothing.

Carefully, she crept over towards him. When she got close she noticed that his whitish-silver hair was stained with blood.

"Oh no." She crouched quickly by him and searched for his pulse. It was there and not that faint. Happy that he was at least alive she checked for other wounds. There were some cuts on his legs and arms, but not as bad as the scrape on his head. She glanced at his face then looked back at it staring.

My, he's quite a looker.

She gasped and hit her head.

He's wounded, Sora! How can you think of such things! Just tend to his wounds.

Kakashi felt consciousness coming back to him. His proof was the pounding headache he had. Opening his eyes slowly, he realized that he wasn't outside. Thinking back slowly he remembered the ambush, the fight, Sakura destroying the ground then the collapse of the cliff side and him flinging Naruto into the cave.

Then how did I get here, he wondered. Where is here?

He started to sit up then stopped and laid back down, feeling his ribs. They were bruised badly. As he tenderly felt his side he realized that this clothing didn't feel like his vest or sweater. Looking down he found that he was wearing a dark blue shirt and was lying in a bed. His face felt different when he moved his head. Quickly, he felt for his mask. It wasn't on. Instead, there was a bandage covering one of his cheeks. He then felt for his forehead protector and it was gone too, replaced by a bandage that wrapped the top of his head and not covering his sharingan. Sitting up painfully, he looked around the room. It was drab with just a small dresser, the bed he was in, and a small table by the bed. In the corner near the window was a sleeping dog. It had a splint wrapped around one of its front legs.

Where the hell am I?

He moved his legs out from under the sheets and got up slowly. Even with his slow movements he still went a little light headed. After it passed he took limping steps. His right hip and thigh were bruised as well and didn't want to bend. Kakashi walked to the door and opened. It opened into a bigger room. Looking around he noticed a fireplace, a table set, some other chairs, four big cupboards, but the main thing he noticed were the dried plants hanging upside down from part of the ceiling and one wall. Walking barefoot, he went over to them and looked closely at them. He recognized a few, helpful herbs that were around his village, but the others were strange looking. Some humming came from outside and was getting closer. Kakashi turned and watched the door carefully. The humming was louder and the door opened. A young woman was entering and when she saw Kakashi she stopped.

"You shouldn't be out of bed. You've lost too much blood."

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cliffhanger already! comments welcome, flames, well it'd be best advised not to send any since i did say that this was a weird idea that came to me in the very begining (if u say u didn't see it then ur blind cuz it's the 1st sentence in the whole story! lol)


	2. Chapter 2

i stayed up late reading bleach last night then my computer screen started doing some weird stuff, i hope i didn't ruin it or something (bad luck plus computers equals me lol) cuz dad jus got done working on it, uh-oh **:nervous laugh:**

Disclaimer: don't own Naruto, never will so stop asking (j/k lol)

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Kakashi stared at her.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Sora, what's your name?"

Kakashi ignored the question. "Where exactly am I?"

The girl pursed her lips a bit and said stubbornly, "I won't answer that until you answer my question."

She walked over to the table and set her basket down. With her back to him she started emptying its contents. Kakashi watched her warily as she pulled out nothing but plants. Sora was aware of his stare, but ignored it as she sorted her new herbs into piles and tied string to them. When all the plants were in bundles, she brought a chair near Kakashi and stood on it, tying the plants upside down from the ceiling.

When she got down she asked without looking at him, "So are you going to answer my question or are you just going to stare at me?"

"Why should I?"

She walked over to the cupboard next to Kakashi and opened it. It was full of bottles and bandages. Sora grabbed a wrap of bandages and a jar then closed it and walked into the room Kakashi came out of. He could hear her start talking happily.

She must be tending to the dog, he thought.

He looked up at the new plants and recognized one as the kind that helps kill pain.

Why does she have these? Aren't there doctors around here?

Sora walked out of the room followed by the limping dog. It had a wolfish appearance. The girl walked over to the fire place and put some more logs in then put a big pot over the fresh flame. The wolf-dog walked over carefully near Kakashi then stopped and breathed his scent deeply. Kakashi relaxed his body the little he could so the animal would know that he meant it no harm. Satisfied, the dog gave a small sneeze then walked over to the door, scratching it to be let out. The girl walked over and let him out leaving the door open.

"I'm surprised that Meesha didn't growl at you. He's normally touchy around new people." She looked Kakashi in the eye; his only eye that he kept open right now. "You can relax around me. I'm not going to be doing anything to hurt you. Besides, if it weren't for me then you would've most likely drowned, or bled to death."

Kakashi remained quiet and stared back into her purple eyes.

She sighed. "You're a pain in the ass, you know that? Why in the hell did I even help you?" She grabbed two buckets by the door and walked outside angrily.

Kakashi would've remained standing if it weren't for the light-headedness coming back and his body aching badly. He walked stiffly over to the table and sat down at the far end so he could see all of the room.

After a few minutes Sora came back in with the buckets full of water. She walked over to the pot and poured both buckets into it. She then walked over to the table and pulled some vegetables out of the basket and placed them on a board then started cutting them up into big chunks. All the while they both remained silent. When one vegetable was cut up she put it into the boiling water then went back to cutting another. By the time she was nearly finished a young boy of about 12 came and stood in her doorway.

"Miss Sora?"

Sora turned around and smiled. "Hello Naoya. Did you come for some food?"

He nodded and held up two rabbits. "I also caught these figuring you could use them."

"Those would be great. Go ahead and head out back and skin them both for me and I'll put them in the stew."

The boy smiled and went around the house.

Sora went back to chopping. "He stays with his grandmother down near the village, but she's gotten to be so old that she can't do much so I've started helping them with whatever I can. It's just Naoya and his grandma and the poor boy only knows how to make simple things so I tend to make them supper."

Kakashi watched her silently then asked, "Why did he say miss and not use san?"

Sora looked up. "So you are from the outside."

Kakashi looked at her a little confused.

"I mean outside the valley. My grandparents came from the outside and they said that out there people use what's called honorifics, and that there are many rules about using them. Here in the valley we call each other by names and if we want, or if it's required, we use titles such as ms., mrs., or mr. and they go in front of the name."

"So between what mountains is this valley located?"

Sora started to say then shut her mouth and gave Kakashi a rotten look. "Don't try and trick me like that. I won't fall for it that easily."

Kakashi rolled his eyes. Sora walked back over to the pot and poured the rest of the vegetables into it and stirred it a little. Naoya walked in with two somewhat bloody hands.

Sora turned around. "I want you to cut the meat off this time, Naoya. Do you remember how I showed you to do that?"

The boy nodded. "A little."

"Good, I want big pieces now."

"Ok." He walked back out with a cloth she handed him.

When he left Kakashi asked quietly, "Why doesn't he ask about me?"

Sora turned from her stirring and came over and sat at the table. "He's used to strangers being here every now and then. I'm a healer, and I won't be doing my job very well if I don't look at that cut on your head."

"It's fine."

"And how do you know?"

Kakashi stared at her.

She shrugged. "Fine, but before we go to bed I'm changing those bandages whether you like it or not."

He ignored her.

A few minutes later the boy came in with the meat chunks wrapped up in the cloth. Sora got up and took the meat to the pot and put it in. The boy then walked out again and she sat back down at the table.

"What did you do to my stuff?"

Sora looked up. "Your scrolls, I think that's what you would call them, and weapons are in my room along with that book," she gave him a glare which he ignored, "but your clothes aren't salvageable. They're too torn up, but I still have them because I didn't know if you wanted to keep them or not."

Sora got back up and went over to the pot. As she was stirring the stew the boy came back in.

"Grab two bowls and that covered dish of mine, Naoya."

The boy went over to one of the cupboards and opened a bottom shelf digging out two bowls, two spoons, and a big bowl that had a lid. He came over and sat them on the table then looked at Kakashi smiling. "Hello."

Kakashi nodded back.

Sora walked by to a cupboard and pulled out a wrapped thing. When she brought it over to the table she opened it and started cutting it. It was half a loaf of bread. Judging by how she was cutting it, Kakashi assumed it was a few days stale. She handed two slices to Naoya.

"Take these to your grandmother. They're for you guys to eat with the stew."

The boy looked up shocked at her. "But you won't have much left for yourself."

Sora smiled. "I'll be fine."

The boy took the slices of bread like it was treasure. "Thank you so much."

She picked up the covered dish now and walked over to the pot and started scooping some stew into it. When it was full she put the lid on and handed it to the boy. "Now I expect this given back to me the next time I see you, and it better be clean."

The boy smiled even more, "It will be, thank you!" He walked out the door fast.

Sora then picked up the two bowls and filled them, handing one to Kakashi as she sat on the other side of the table from him. "If you don't eat then you won't build up strength, and no, it's not poisoned, you saw me making this so you know yourself. Besides I wouldn't poison two people like that either."

She cut off two more slices of bread and handed one to Kakashi as well. They ate in silence. The only disturbance was when Meesha, the wolf-dog, came back.

Kakashi sat on a tree branch. It's been four days since he woke up in the valley. He was able to get his stuff back and he finally gave in to the woman's question. She held up her end of the bargain and told him the name if this valley he was trapped in. Moon's Nest valley. He also found out that the only passage through the mountains has finally been blocked in by the snowfall while he was unconscious. It disturbed him that he would be stuck in this place with these strange people, but not as much as something else that wouldn't leave his mind. He couldn't get his chakra back. For some reason he couldn't even use a little bit just to climb trees. This worried him and he tried to call any of his chakra out, but none came.

"Kakashi!" Sora yelled.

He rolled his eyes and climbed carefully down the tree. His ribs and legs were still pretty bruised. Once on the ground he started back to Sora's house. She lived alone in the forest that surrounded the village. Kakashi hasn't been to the village yet, but they were going to go today. When he came into the clearing around the house, Sora put her hands on her hips.

"What took you?"

He shrugged.

Sora handed him a long, wrapped cloth which he put over his face to hide his sharingan and most of his scar easier. She had asked him countless times about his eye yet the only answer he gave her was that it was a special eye that took his strength if he used it.

Sora shouldered her bag and started walking towards town with Kakashi behind her. He wasn't so sure about not wearing a mask in public, but really had no choice because his mask and the one beneath it (he wore because of Naruto continually trying to see his face) were ripped almost in half; hanging together by a few threads.

The town came into view and Sora led him threw a few back alleys and out onto a busy market street. People who passed looked curiously at him, but didn't ask questions when they saw he was with Sora. She took him directly towards a food shop. The fall harvest had come in a few weeks ago, but there was still plenty of produce left. He waited outside quietly. As people passed he could hear their whispers about him. Kakashi ignored them and looked around.

Their ways of dressing are definitely a lot different and more old fashioned, he thought.

Sora came out and led him to another shop. While he was waiting outside the third shop a voice called quietly, "Sharingan Kakashi."

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whup, not good, someone knows his title yet he's in a place where there aren't any ninja

bit of a slow chappie huh? o well plz comment!

(12/2/07 - someone pointed out a lil e that slipped in in word in this chappie so i've changed it...there is no other change to this chappie except for that e...and it surprised me that it was pointed out after all this time lol...anybody want to eat out of bowels?? lmao...i changed it to bowls...which is what it was supposed to be in th first place lmao)


	3. Chapter 3

once again i have no clue as to what to write here **:pouts:** oh well

Disclaimer: you kno the drill

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Kakashi looked quickly in the direction of the voice. It was a man, an older man.

The guy held up his hands, "I have no interest in fighting you, Kakashi-san."

"Who are you?"

"The name's Kyoshiro and I was a ninja from the village hidden the rocks before I came here."

"What do you want?" Kakashi still didn't relax.

"I just want to know why someone like you would be in a place like this."

"What business is it to you?"

"You feel it don't you, how your chakra seemed to disappear when you came here."

Shock filled Kakashi but he didn't let it show on his face. "What do you know?"

The man shrugged his shoulders. "Not much about that, but I will say this, this is the only place I have found peace. Now you know my reason for being here, what's yours?"

Kakashi scrutinized the man.

"Oh, hello Kyoshiro." Sora walked out of the store.

The man smiled. "Sora-san, how are you today?"

"I'm just fine thank you. I see you've met Kakashi? He's from the outside just like you."

Kyoshiro looked back up at Kakashi, "Yes, we were just talking about that."

"Oh, I see. I've got to go to one more store so I'll let you two catch up. I'll be right back." She smiled and walked away.

Kakashi looked back at the other ninja. "What do you want?"

"I just want to help you."

"Why?"

"You're stuck in this valley and there are some things that you need to know if you are to live amongst the people here."

Kakashi continued looking at him. "Why would you do that for me, especially since I'm from another village?"

The man smiled sadly. "I never was much of a good ninja, always helping others out, so I don't really have any ties to any village."

Kakashi relaxed a little. "I see, I'm listening."

"The people here both fear and hate ninjas. They've never had any ninja contact because chakra doesn't work in this valley for some odd reason. If you are to get any ounce of decency from these people then don't do anything like a ninja. They don't even fully trust an outsider and it took me years to finally be treated like one of them, and they don't know who I used to be either. Just me being seen with you probably isn't helping my reputation much."

"Then what about Sora-san?"

"The people of this valley don't trust her. Since her grandparents and parents came from the outside. Yes, she was born here in this valley, but she has always helped strangers, even after what happened to her parents. So, she doesn't care if people talk badly about her if another stranger is with her."

Sora was walking back smiling.

Kyoshiro saw her and finished up. "Just don't cause trouble with any other village and if you need anything, you can find me."

"What are you two talking about?"

Both guys looked at her.

"Nothing, why?" Kyoshiro replied.

"I saw you two look at me as I was walking up."

"Oh really, well, I guess our skills are getting rusty already." Kyoshiro smiled.

Kakashi looked at him like he was an idiot.

Sora looked at her guest. "Well, I'm done shopping, Kakashi."

"Ok."

Sora started walking back in the direction of her house and Kakashi followed.

"Hey, if you ever want to spar, look me up, I've been a little bored around here."

Kakashi didn't turn around but raised his hand notifying the other that he heard.

A few minutes outside of town Kakashi asked, "Sora-san, is there other villages in this valley?"

"Yup, there are two other towns just like this one, but they keep fighting with each other. I think it's stupid, but no one listens to any reasoning against it."

"Why do they fight?"

"I don't really know the answer to that, and I wouldn't go around questioning people about it either because when I did that, nearly the whole town got angry at me for no reason."

"Why would they get angry at their healer?"

Sora walked in silence for a little while with her head down and a sad look.

"Did I say something wrong?"

She shook her head no. "These people are so conceited and they hate me because I'm different."

"How are you different?"

She looked up at me a little angrily. "It's because I help people and animals that's why. What's so wrong with helping someone who needs it?" She looked back down again.

"Is that why you went to a lot of shops today, because I was with you?"

There was no reply to this statement, nor any objection.

Kakashi sighed. "I'm sorry to cause you such trouble."

She quickly looked up at him, "No, no, no, there's no need to apologize! I don't mind helping you one bit." She smiled, but Kakashi could still see the sadness there.

Two weeks passed. Kakashi no longer felt he needed to keep his guard up around Sora and had started helping her with whatever chore she could find for him. The wolf-dog, Meesha, had healed finally and Sora took the splint off of his leg.

Kakashi asked why he had a splint to begin with and Sora replied that "he needs to learn that not all cats are dumb and will run up a tree." Apparently he chased a cat and it led him across a hole which he fell in and broke his leg.

Naoya continued to visit. He already guessed that Kakashi was from the outside and kept asking him about it. When he heard about ninjas he wouldn't leave Kakashi alone without a story about them. Remembering Kyoshiro's words, Kakashi never told Naoya that he, himself, was a ninja. At first it was a little awkward for Kakashi to be telling stories to a 12 year old since the only 12 year olds he really worked with were Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke when they were that age and they had already became genin, but he got used to it and sometimes enjoyed it. There were even times when Sora came and joined in listening in the story telling. Soon though, Naoya started to not show up as much and rain started coming in more often. Sora was beginning to worry about the health of his grandmother.

"Kakashi, I'm going to go check on Naoya, would you like to come?"

"Sure, why not?" I was beginning to wonder what was up with him, he thought to himself.

They walked quickly towards the boy's house on the outskirts of the town. The sky was threatening more rain, but with harsh weather now. Sora walked up to a small, somewhat run down house and knocked on the door. No one answered. She tried the handle and it was unlocked. They both walked in.

"Hello? Naoya, Mrs. Aikawa?" Sora asked.

"Sora? Is that you?" a small, old voice asked.

Sora walked into another room followed by Kakashi. An elderly lady was sitting up in bed with the quilts stretched out before her.

"Hello, Mrs. Aikawa. How are you today?" Sora walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.

"I'm fine, dear." She looked up at Kakashi who was leaning against the doorsill. "Who's this handsome young man?"

Blush started to creep across his face. "I'm Kakashi, ma'am."

"Oh, such manors. Where are you from?"

Kakashi's face was almost completely red and Sora was trying not to laugh at it. "I'm from outside this valley."

The elderly lady's eyes widened a bit. "Oh, so this is the young man Naoya is always talking about?"

"Yes," Sora answered taking Mrs. Aikawa's attention thankfully away from Kakashi, "He used to always visit us everyday, yet he's stopped coming so we were worried about him. How's he doing?"

Mrs. Aikawa's face saddened, "He used to always talk to me at nights before he went to bed, but now he's always in a hurry and he comes home with bruises. I tried to ask him about them one time, but he got really angry. I don't know what's gotten into him lately."

"Do you know when he normally gets back?" Sora asked.

"He should be back by nightfall."

Kakashi looked out the window. "That would be in about 2 ½ hours."

"Have you eaten much, Mrs. Aikawa?"

She shook her head no. "Naoya used to always make sure I had plenty to eat while he was gone, but he hasn't been setting anything out and my bones just don't like to support my weight for very long."

Sora got up, "I'll make you something to eat."

She walked out of the room and Kakashi followed. Sora searched up and down for any scrap of food, but only found hard, stale bread.

"This won't do at all. What has that boy been up to?"

Kakashi could see that Sora was getting angry.

"That's it. When I see that boy, he's so dead." Sora walked back to Mrs. Aikawa's room then came out a minute later. "I'm going to run back home and fix her something to eat. I'll also bring enough for us, but can you stay here and keep an eye out for that brat? If and when he does come back, make sure he doesn't leave or I'll skin your hide instead."

"Yes ma'am." Kakashi knew better than to piss her off even more, so he watched her storm out the door.

* * *

kyoshiro's creepy and Naoya's got himself into trouble, what else can go wrong? next chapter will a LOT faster, i promise (cuz i already wrote it lmao)

**_preview of next chapter (don't expect this too much lol):_**

_"Then you need to stop whatever it is that you're doing," Kakashi replied._

_"It's too late for that," the boy mumbled looking down._

_He didn't respond._

_"Naoya, what did you do?" Kakashi's voice got a small hard tone to it._


	4. Chapter 4

why do i still post these when practically no one's even reviewing? at least i get more reviews on tokyopop than here

disclaimer: same as norm

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The minutes dragged on. After a while he grew bored and started tidying up the place. When that was somewhat done, he checked in on Mrs. Aikawa, but she was sound asleep with her sewing in her lap. He walked back out and sat at the table, thinking.

It's so weird that they have no electricity here. Most of the clothing is strange too. Sora is also the only one I've seen with odd colored eyes. I wonder what she's making. I hope she isn't burning it again because she's pissed.

He sat there thinking of the time he's spent with Sora. Her attitude and how she commanded authority in some situations but demanded equality in others. How she could be strong and cruel with one person while being gentle to another at the same time and fixing their wounds.

He remembered her laugh and smile when he told her about one of Naruto's ways of trying to see under his mask, and how angry he'd gotten when he found another mask underneath. Kakashi enjoyed seeing her smile.

Naruto, Sakura, and Sai had just gotten back to the village and had gone directly to the hokage.

"But we've got to find him! What if he's hurt or worse, what if an enemy ninja caught him!?" Naruto glared at Tsunade.

Tsunade looked calmly at Naruto. "You three looked up and down that river. What did you find?"

Sakura stepped forward. "We found his hitai-ate and his bag."

"Sakura, you're a medic nin, do you think anyone would've survived that fall and those rapids and that waterfall, all at once?" Tsunade looked calmly at her pupil.

Sakura looked down. "No, Hokage-sama."

All three looked down and Tsunade realized how much they cared for their sensei. "We can't let another village get a hold of his jutsus so I will send out another team to look for him and you three are to accompany them to the place where Kakashi-san fell. You are to also help them locate his body, is that understood?"

The other three looked up happily. They still didn't believe that Kakashi was dead.

Sora walked back in carrying a large, covered bowl. Kakashi got up and took the bowl from her and placed it on the table. Sora came over and dug three bowls and spoons out of her bag. Opening the dish, she scooped out some for Mrs. Aikawa and took it to her. Kakashi continued pouring more in for both of them in the other two bowls. Sora came back out and grabbed a bowl and sat next to Kakashi.

"Did he show up?"

Kakashi shook his head no.

"What could he have gotten into to cause this much trouble for him?"

They ate in silence. After all three of them finished Sora cleaned out the dishes and left what was left over of the stew near the new flame Kakashi had built up in the fireplace to keep warm. She then went about making some quick bread. Kakashi helped her. It was another of the things they enjoyed doing together and they didn't need to talk to each other that much while doing it. They just enjoyed one another's company.

When the dough was starting to bake the rain was starting to fall.

Sora looked out the door. "I hope that boy doesn't get caught in too much of this." She walked back to the table and sat down then remembered something and dug it out of the bag. When she pulled it out, Kakashi realized it was his kunai and shuriken bag. "I figured you'd might want these in case that boy was in some serious trouble."

Kakashi smiled and pulled out the bandages in it and started wrapping his leg to put the bag on. When it was secured to his right leg he took out the kunai and shuriken and counted them; five kunai and nine shuriken.

This won't help much, but it's better than nothing, he thought.

The light outside was fading fast so Sora got up, grabbed a candle out of the bunch on the counter and lit it from the fireplace, taking it into Mrs. Aikawa's room so she could see if she wanted to. She came back out with the empty bowl.

"Mrs. Aikawa is asleep."

Kakashi put his weapons back in the pouch. "What happened to Naoya's parents?"

Sora sat beside him again. "They were killed when he was 8. A huge fight broke out between this village and the one on the northwestern mountain range about a week's walk from here. That village sent a large amount of people over and they attacked this village in the middle of the night, killing many, including Naoya's parents."

Kakashi was unsure of what to say so he didn't say anything at all and they sat in silence, just staring at the fire and listening to the storm rage outside.

An hour had passed and Sora had just fallen asleep when Naoya burst in the door. The wind was blowing hard and the boy couldn't get the door closed easily so Kakashi stood up and shut it with one hand with no problem. The boy glared up at him. Confused, Kakashi stared blankly back.

"Naoya, where have you been?" Sora stood up and grabbed a towel for the boy.

"What the hell are you two doing here?" he snapped back.

Sora froze and stared at the boy. "What's your problem?"

He looked away from both of them, "Nothing, just answer my question."

Kakashi reached down and smacked the boy across his head. "Watch your language."

The boy glared back up at him, his bruises shining in the firelight. "Why do you care? You're not my father!"

Sora came over and threw the towel into the boy's face. "No, but we're your friends and you don't treat your friends like that."

Naoya pulled the towel off and draped it around his small shoulders.

"Where did you get those bruises?" Kakashi asked gently.

"It's none of your business."

Sora clenched her fists and was about to chew him out when Kakashi motioned for her to wait. Kneeling so he was eye level he asked, "Why won't you answer any of our questions?"

"Because it's none of your damn business!"

Sora was about to snap when Kakashi shot her a look that made her stop. He then looked back at the boy. "Then why aren't you at least helping your grandmother?"

Naoya looked away. "She can take care of herself."

"No, she can't and you know it," Kakashi said quietly.

The boy was fighting tears now. "Why don't you just leave me alone?"

"We will when you tell us why you have those bruises."

Sora was standing back watching Kakashi coax the boy out of his stubborn shell.

"I got into fights, happy now?"

"And why were you fighting?"

Naoya glared back at the white-haired man. "I answered your question now you keep your end of the bargain and leave me alone."

Kakashi remained calm and answered, "You only answered half of my question. Fighting isn't enough of an excuse to answer why you have those bruises. What you're doing is putting your grandma in jeopardy."

"How?" The boy was still staring at Kakashi.

"She needs your help to keep her going and you're putting those duties off, and whatever fights you get into, those you fight may try and harm your grandma to get to you. Do you want that to happen?"

"No."

"Then you need to stop whatever it is that you're doing," Kakashi replied.

"It's too late for that," the boy mumbled looking down.

"Why's that?"

He didn't respond.

"Naoya, what did you do?" Kakashi's voice got a small hard tone to it.

The boy didn't look up.

"Did someone follow you here?"

Some squelching came from outside and a blur passed in front of the bottom part of a window. The sound was only audible to his ears though because the others didn't take any notice.

"Some guys tried, but I lost them in the storm," Naoya said stubbornly.

"Sora, go get Aikawa-san and hide her in a room without windows," Kakashi said without moving from his position.

"Why?" she asked calmly.

"You need to hide yourself and Naoya there as well."

"Why Kakashi?"

"He was followed."

* * *

there is fighting in the next chapter and something evil is done to kakashi (u think pervertedly then ur waaaaaaay off track lol)


	5. Chapter 5

woohoo! we see some action in this!

dis: don't own naruto or any characters in accordance with the anime/manga

* * *

They both got scared and started looking around until Kakashi hissed, "Don't look anywhere. Just act like we're still talking. Naoya, I want you to hide in one of the cabinets and Sora, you will hide with Aikawa-san. Don't come out until I say so. Understood?"

They both nodded and Sora went to get Mrs. Aikawa.

Kakashi looked back into the boy's face who was staring with fear up at him. "When this is over, you have a lot to explain."

"What're you going to do?"

"I have no choice, but to fight them, now go hide."

"But-."

Sora came out with a sleepy Mrs. Aikawa and Naoya ran to a bare cabinet and squeezed in. Sora hid herself and the elderly lady in the closet while Kakashi grabbed the water basin and put the low burning fire out. Smoke filled the room slowly as embers glowed red from the logs. Everything was still. Kakashi stood breathing quietly in the middle of the room. The only sound was of the pounding rain. The wind had died down for a few minutes. Hissing continued coming faintly from the fire place. Minutes passed. Minute, after minute, after minute. Nothing, but Kakashi wasn't buying it. He knew they were there. A gust picked up outside barely covering the sound of the front door coming unlatched, but Kakashi heard it. He moved quickly and silently to the other side of the door and waited for the person to come in. The door was open for a few seconds when someone stalked in. A gleam caught Kakashi's eye and he realized that they had swords. He slipped a kunai out from the pouch. A second man crept in behind the first. Kakashi shifted. A third came into view and Kakashi threw his weight into the door slamming it into the third person hard. The other two turned around at the commotion, but Kakashi was already there hitting them hard. One went flying into a wall the other hit the chairs hard. The door behind Kakashi burst open and more men came in, flailing wildly. Kakashi jumped back quietly into some shadows and waited. The smoke was sucked out of the room outside. The one that was slammed into the table got up shaking his head. His comrades jumped and almost speared him before he shouted, "Wait! It's me!"

The men looked around one whispered, "What happened?"

"I don't know," the first replied, "but something or someone is in here."

The men formed an awkward circle with their backs to each other and their weapons facing out and ready to attack anything.

Seven left standing, Kakashi thought. Without my chakra this might be hard.

One man bumped the person behind him and that person swung around frantically.

"Whoa, hey it's me!" the man whispered.

"Sorry, don't do that again."

The two men turned back around.

Kakashi smiled a feral smile. Maybe not as hard as I thought.

He reached down and picked up the three spoons that had fallen off the table. Standing slowly he aimed and threw one into the back of a man and did the same with the other two at the same time. All the men turned around towards each other and Kakashi came in and knocked two out cold then jumped away back to the shadows. The guys stared at their fallen comrades.

"Who did that?" one whispered.

"I don't know," another replied.

Kakashi ran on silent feet around the room and came in behind another two and knocked them out cold then jumped back into shadows. His cloth that was wrapped around his eye was coming loose so Kakashi just took it off and opened his left eye as well.

They're not using jutsus so I should be fine, he thought.

The three men that were left were starting to panic yet one of them got the other two under control and they formed a triangle facing out. Kakashi sat in the shadows watching them. Everything was silent as the rain poured outside. Unaware to Kakashi since his back was to him a little ways, the man that was knocked into the wall was regaining consciousness and as he looked up a flicker in the fireplace sent little light out in the room, but he saw where Kakashi was kneeling by his white hair. The man rolled to his stomach quietly and lay there until something distracted the white-haired man. That distraction came in the form of a sneeze from a cabinet. All five conscious men jumped a little and looked at the low lying cupboard especially the man laying on his stomach right next to it. Realizing what happened that man froze just to make sure Kakashi didn't see him. The three in the triangle formation started to drift slowly towards the cabinet and when one got out of the pattern Kakashi jumped all three of them. Hearing the noise the man on his stomach opened the cabinet and saw the boy. He reached in and grabbed Naoya as he screamed. Kakashi had just knocked out two of the three when Naoya's scream came to him. He swung around and froze. The man that he had knocked into the wall had a knife to the boy's throat.

"Don't anybody move or the kid will loose something. Who's left standing?"

"Me, sir!" The voice came from a little ways behind Kakashi's left shoulder.

"Get a light going."

The other man lit a match from somewhere and jumped at the site of Kakashi standing not far from him. Naoya and the two men felt fear hit them as they stared at Kakashi's unwavering face with its gleaming red eye.

The one holding Naoya spoke, "Who the hell are you?"

Kakashi stood there and stared the man in the eye and saw him shiver.

"Ow, fuck!" The light went out as the other man dropped the match to keep from getting burnt any more.

Kakashi took advantage of the instant dark and ran quietly behind the one holding Naoya and raised his kunai. As the other man lit another match, Kakashi jabbed the kunai into the heart of the one in front of him. Naoya dropped to the floor and Kakashi pulled out his kunai, letting the man fall dead. The lone man left stared at Kakashi and started trembling in fear. Kakashi flung his kunai and hit the man square in the heart as well. The match went out as he dropped dead. Kakashi stood quietly listening, but no other sound came asides from Naoya's sobbing. He then reached around on the counter and grabbed one of the candles from the pile he had seen Sora grab from. Walking quickly and quietly over to the last dead man he looked for the match booklet. It was in one of his hands. Grabbing it, Kakashi lit it then the candle.

"Sora, you can come out now."

The closet door that Sora and Mrs. Aikawa were hiding behind opened and they walked out and stared around. Lying on the ground were five unconscious men and two dead men; one of which Kakashi was pulling his kunai out of and wiping the blood on the dead man's clothes. Storing the kunai he looked up at the women and they both jumped and gasped. He remembered that his left eye was open so he immediately shut it.

"Sorry," he mumbled. Kakashi walked over to the where he had dropped his headband and picked it up, re-tying it around his head.

Sora walked over to Naoya and kneeled beside him, "Naoya, are you ok?"

The boy shoved her hand away and stayed lying on the ground crying.

Kakashi walked over and touched the boy's shoulder. When he tried to swat away his hand, Kakashi caught his wrist in a gentle yet tight hold. Naoya looked up angrily into his face.

"Are you hurt, Naoya?"

The boy shook his head no. Kakashi let go of his wrist and Naoya sat up.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Kakashi looked down at him. "Tell you what?"

"That you're a ninja."

"I had no choice if I was to be able to hide here."

The boy looked up. "What do you mean "hide"?"

Kakashi sighed. "I'm stuck in this valley until the snows melt. I don't need to go attracting attention to myself."

"I wouldn't have told anyone," the boy responded stubbornly.

"Naoya, now's not the time. We need to get rid of these men." Kakashi looked up. "Aikawa-san, is there any rope around here?"

The old woman stared at Kakashi.

"Mrs. Aikawa?" Sora stepped towards her. "What's wrong?"

The woman whispered something. Kakashi froze then looked down, sadly. Naoya saw Kakashi look away.

"I'm sorry, what did you saw Mrs. Aikawa?" Sora asked politely.

The elderly lady spoke up a little more, "Demon! Get out! You've already brought death to my house. Leave me in peace, freak!"

Kakashi flinched a little as Naoya and Sora stared at the old lady.

"Grandma, what are you saying?"

"Come here, child," she held her hand out to Naoya, "you mustn't be near some one like that. They'll bring you nothing but death."

The boy looked up at Kakashi.

Kakashi didn't meet his gaze, but continued looking down and away from them. "Do as she says."

"But Kakashi-."

"I'll be fine, just make sure you get these men tied up before they come around." Kakashi turned and walked out the door quietly into the rain.

The rain was cold but he didn't care. Darkness pressed in on him, yet he could still see the path faintly and he started back to Sora's.

I'd better leave as soon as possible so I don't cause her problems, he thought.

Sora's laughter and smile came into his head; her anger and her gentleness.

Why am I feeling this way? It shouldn't be this hard to leave someone I barely even know, he thought angrily.

He reached Sora's house and walked inside. Meesha greeted him happily, but Kakashi only patted his head and went about gathering his stuff in the dark. There wasn't much and he always kept it all in the same area in case something like this would happen. He picked up the bag Sora had given him and put the little belonging's he had into it, walked out and grabbed a couple match books then stopped in front of the door. He glanced around sadly and looked at Meesha. He was sitting by the table with a sad look that said "you're leaving us, aren't you?" Kakashi walked over and scratched the dog behind the head where he loved it and then walked out the door, not once looking back and headed into the forest.

* * *

I'm being mean to my characters again huh? (the again would be from my fanfic pale eyed boy)


	6. Chapter 6

it's a 3 for 1!! posted 3 chapters in this all in 1 day lol figured i'd do this because i've gotten a lot typed on this so far so i was like "what the heck i'll be nice" lol, plz excuse Gai's possible oocness, i've always sucked at writing his strange, hyper, weird atitude

dis: don't own naruto

* * *

They had been traveling for a good 2 weeks before they came to the ledge Sakura had remodeled. Naruto, Sai, and Sakura were accompanied by team Gai.

Gai-sensei jumped down from the tree he was sitting in and looked over the edge. "That is a bit of a fall and a nasty looking river as well."

The others jumped down beside him.

"How could any one survive those rapids?" Tenten whispered.

Naruto glared at her. "Kakashi-sensei can."

Gai looked sadly at Naruto, "I'm afraid even my eternal rival wouldn't have a good chance at surviving those boulders." He looked over at Neji. "Can you scan the river bottom for any signs?"

Neji brought his hands up to his chest in a seal then opened his eyes staring straight ahead. The nerves near his eyes were popping out. His face creased in confusion.

"What is it?" Naruto asked.

Neji shook his head, "I can't see into the river or all the way downstream."

"What?!" nearly everyone said.

"What do you mean?" Gai asked seriously.

"I can see all the way upstream and around but if I try to look anywhere near or past those mountains, I don't see anything. It's like my vision is blocked or something. I can't even look past the water's surface."

Lee looked up at the nearby mountains, "But those mountains look like they're only a little over ½ a mile away. I thought your range was a mile radius?"

"It is," Neji answered.

Gai looked at Sakura, "Did you find any way to get through those mountains other than this river when you looked for him all those weeks back?"

Sakura shook her head no.

Gai sighed. "Ok, we're going to split up into teams of two and search for some kind of passage past those mountains. TenTen with Lee, Naruto with Sakura, Neji with Sai, and I'll go alone. Meet back here in two hours."

They split off into separate directions.

2 hours later

Tenten and Lee were the last group to appear back by the ledge.

"What did you find?" Gai asked the group.

"Nothing," Naruto and Sakura reported.

"Same here," Neji replied.

"We found a pass going up through the mountains, but it was blocked by snow and there was already a storm starting up again," Lee answered.

"That would be far more dangerous than this river," Gai said solemnly.

They all looked down towards the rapids again.

"Are we sure his body isn't stuck under one of those rocks?" Tenten asked quietly.

Sakura and Naruto shook their heads no. "We already looked the best we could."

"What about downstream?" Lee asked.

"There was no sign there either," Sakura answered quietly.

Gai looked up determinedly. "We will follow this river past these mountains and find Kakashi on the other side!" He did his good guy sparkle pose.

"But how are we going to get past that waterfall?" Sakura asked.

"We'll climb, of course," he replied jovially.

They all stood at the edge of the cliff where the water roared past them over the edge. The ground was shrouded in mist so they couldn't exactly tell how far down it was.

"We're going to climb down that?!" Naruto yelled over the noise.

"Of course!" Gai answered and threw a coil of rope at Naruto. "We'll tie ourselves together then climb down."

They all hesitatingly tied themselves onto the rope, except for Lee. Him and Gai were pumped at the thought of a challenge like this so they tied on quickly. Gai then checked that they were all ready and stepped over the cliff edge. Tenten went after him followed by Neji then Sakura and Naruto and Sai with Lee bringing up the end. The cliff side was barren of any vegetation except for moss and algae which made the climbing even harder because they made the rocks slippery along with the spray from the falls. After a few meters, Gai was finding a climbing path away from the water so they picked up some speed. About half way down was when Naruto started to feel queasy. He looked at Sakura and Sai, but they showed no signs of sickness so I he sucked it up.

¾ the way down the cliff the kyuubi growled in Naruto's head. "Kit, you keep going farther this way and we'll both be sick."

"Why?" Naruto thought back

"Something's not right here and it's making me weak," it growled angrily.

Naruto was shocked. "You're losing your chakra?"

"Yes, you moron. Haven't you felt it?" it snarled angrily.

"Naruto, what's wrong?" Sakura yelled up.

"Nothing, just felt sick that's all." He smiled a little down at her.

She looked curiously back up but didn't say more. Naruto continued climbing down. The mist soon engulfed them all and climbing was made slower and more dangerous. Naruto felt carefully for a foot hold when the line below him tightened fast.

"Sakura-chan?"

"It's ok, I'm on the ground. You three can drop down too."

Naruto looked over his shoulder and saw the other four already untying their knots. He jumped down followed by Sai and Lee. When Naruto tried to stand up straight he got a wave of lightheadedness and sat down hard feeling like he was going to puke.

"Naruto, are you ok?!" Sakura ran over.

"I'm fine, just feeling a little sick."

"You feel it too then?"

Naruto looked up into Neji's face.

"You can't call out any of your chakra can you?" he asked quietly.

Naruto tried to call a small piece into focus in his feet, but nothing happened. He looked up worriedly at Gai. "What happened? I can't get any of my chakra!"

The sensei looked around in the mist. "I've never heard of anybody not being able to focus any chakra, but I can't either. If Kakashi did survive then this would explain why he hasn't been able to come back to the village."

Sakura tried to focus her chakra, but gave up, "This means that if we get into any major fights, we need to be careful because I can't heal anybody. My chakra isn't responding either."

They looked quietly at her.

"We better be moving out of this mist and get a better look at our surroundings," Gai said loudly. "Form a line and retie those knots, we can't loose anybody in this place."

All of them formed the same line again. Once they were secure Gai started walking, keeping the river to his left. After about 10 minutes of walking, the fog cleared and they were able to see clearly. Looming over them was a mix of pine and deciduous trees. The river was running fast beside them, and along its banks were bushes with some dark blue flowers still on them.

"That's weird." Sakura walked over to a bush and leaned close to it. It was sparse looking with little dark leaves, but plenty of thorns stuck out of it. "Winter's almost here yet these are still in bloom."

The others looked at the shrubs as well.

"They don't look very nice," Naruto said.

"I would have to agree with your young spirit, Naruto. Don't let any body touch these thorns, we don't know for sure if they are poisonous."

The teenagers backed away from the bushes.

"Do we still have to wear this rope?" Naruto complained.

Gai looked around. "No, I guess not. Go ahead and take it off."

It was coiled back up and given back to Gai. They still walked in a single file following Gai. The roar of the falls was starting to become faint and sunlight was peeking through some of the trees. After about 20 minutes of walking, birds started chirping, but those strange bushes still hugged the river bank and crept farther into the forest every now and then. The ground started to slope and the trees turned mainly into deciduous with leaves of yellow and brown. The seven ninjas tried their best to not make as much noise, but without their chakra, they were bound to the ground. All except for Lee. He grew tired of making all that noise and jumped up into a nearby tree and jumped ahead from branch to branch like a normal ninja would.

"How can he do that?" Naruto asked jealously.

"Because he's only a taijutsu user," Tenten answered.

"Oh, that's right." Naruto smiled foolishly.

Lee continued jumping ahead and disappeared from sight for few minutes then came back. Gai stopped as Lee dropped down.

"A small path is over that way about 300 meters. It leads down the mountain."

"Good job, Lee."

The boy smiled and jumped back into a tree leading them in the direction of the path.

Sai looked around. "These bushes are getting thicker," he noted.

They walked on the path for four days. It was following the river which was a plus for them since they were still looking for any sign of Kakashi's body. The forest remained thick around them, but thankfully those weird bushes were slowly getting fewer and fewer.

"Are we there yet?" Naruto whined.

Sakura groaned. "How many times do we have to answer? We don't know!"

"Look at it this way, Naruto," Tenten looked at him, "at least your feeling better."

Naruto looked down, "Not really. My stomach's still queasy."

Lee came jumping back. "There's still not much change."

Every one groaned.

Tenten walked towards the river bank. "Are we sure that Kakashi came this far, dead or alive?"

Naruto glared at her, "How can you say that?! He's alive and we're going to find him."

She started to turn around and retort back to that when the leaves and mud under her feet slipped and she fell down the bank, rolling into those spiny bushes with blue flowers. She let out a small scream as the thorns scratched her bare skin.

Everyone was about to run down there to get her out when someone yelled "Stop!"

Turning around they saw some one walking towards them.

"Don't touch those thorns at all, they're poisonous and could kill you if it isn't treated."

All the teenager's jaws dropped and Sakura blushed a little.

"Ka-kakashi-sensei?" Naruto spluttered.

He walked past them and went to Tenten. She looked up at him blushing a little as well. Crouching down, Kakashi pulled out a blanket from his bag and tossed one end towards Tenten. She caught it and Kakashi pulled her out of the bush. When she was standing up, free, he carefully picked a small branch that had both a thorn and a small blue flower. He put it in a side pocket of his bag and put the blanket back inside as well then he stood up and faced the others. They were all staring at him, including Gai because even he had never seen Kakashi without his mask.

The white-haired man sighed. "You can stop staring now."

They all blushed faintly in embarrassment and Sakura asked, "What happened to your mask?"

Kakashi shrugged. "If I'd known I was going to run into you today I would've found another one. My others got torn beyond repair."

Naruto stared angrily. "So after all this, your disappearance and re-appearance allows us to see your face? Why didn't my other plans work like that?!"

Kakashi let out another sigh, "We don't really have time to argue about that if we're to get Tenten help."

"What do you mean?" she asked confused. "I'm perfectly fine."

He looked at her. "Now, you are, but in an hour you'll be lying on the ground unconscious as the poison starts to take affect."

She looked at him with shock. "Is it deadly?"

Kakashi nodded. "With one scratch, you'll get a bit of a fever, but with as many as you've gotten, it can turn deadly, but thankfully it's a slower poison than most so we may have some time."

Sakura looked up at him, "How do you know all this when even I don't recognize this plant?"

"A friend warned me about them."

"So, what do we treat the poison with?" Sakura was starting to get her bag off to dig through her little supplies as she said this.

"I don't know, that's why we need to hurry."

"To where?" Lee asked.

"I know a healer that's a two days run from here."

"Well let's get going!" Naruto started to turn but Sakura stopped him.

"We can't let Tenten run," she stated. "It'll make the poison spread faster."

"Oh." Naruto looked down.

Gai stepped up beside his pupil and gave her the good guy pose, "I'll carry you as far as I need to go."

A sweatdrop appeared on her head.

"It would be best if some one did carry you, Tenten," Kakashi quietly said.

"Fine." She climbed onto Gai's back piggy-back style then all of them took off at a good pace with Kakashi leading.

* * *

figured i'd also be nice and make this chapter longer than the others i've posted so far lol and i also figured i'd be nice to naruto and show kakashi's face, otherwise he'd be lookin like a major wannabe bandit lmao

well time to get around for work **:rolls eyes:**


	7. Chapter 7

this has been an interesting day, so far there's been a turkey in our backyard, now a deer had just casually passed through eating leaves lol

dis: same as norm

* * *

Sora stood browsing through the odds and ends stuff while eaves dropping on two guys near her.

"I hear that the village to the south of us had a bad crop again this year."

"They'll probably come raiding our village in the winter again if it's harsh like last year," the younger one retorted.

"I would hope not."

She picked up an item and put it with the rest of the small amount in her arms and took it over to the owner to purchase them. While walking home she was listing off the herbs she was running low on again.

I'm going to need to stock up even more if what all the farmers are saying about the winter being harsh is true, she thought.

She opened her door and went inside as Meesha passed her going out, so she left it open for the dog. Placing her bag on the table she went over and stoked the flame up again. Turning around, she froze and stared at the doorway. Standing right outside it was a group of people and amongst them was Kakashi. He stepped to the side a little and she saw a young woman draped across another man's back. She was sweating hard and her skin was pale.

"What happened to her?" Sora asked.

Kakashi carefully pulled out the twig with the now crushed flower from the bush and held it out to Sora.

The woman gasped. "Get her into the room quickly."

Kakashi led Gai into the spare bedroom while Sora put a kettle full of water over the fire. The others remained outside the house.

Sakura stepped forward a bit, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Sora looked up at her. "Do you know how to crush herbs quickly?"

Sakura nodded.

"Then I've got something for you to do." Sora grabbed a chair and brought it near the herb wall and cut down one of the drier plants. She placed these on the table along with a stone bowl and a crushing stone. "Crush half of this bundle into the finest powder that you can get. Crush the whole plant."

Kakashi and Gai walked out of the room and stood near its doorway.

Sora looked up, "Kakashi, I need more water."

He bowed his head slightly and grabbed the pail near the door and headed out to the creek.

"Is there anything we can do?" Naruto asked.

Sora cut some more herbs down from the ceiling while saying, "Just stay out of my way and pray to the gods that you got her here in time."

Naruto's stomach growled loudly. Everyone was sitting outside the little hut except for Sakura. Sora found out that the pink-haired girl was a medic nin and put her to even more work.

"Kakashi-sensei, is Tenten-san going to be ok?" Lee asked.

The white-haired jounin shook his head, "I don't know."

Sora walked to the door and stood there. Everyone looked up. "I don't know how much the poison has spread and her fever hasn't come down that much."

"Is she going to live?" Gai asked.

"I don't know that for sure, but if she makes it through the night and we can get her fever down by tomorrow, she'll most likely pull through."

A faint sigh went through the group. Naruto's stomach growled loudly again.

Sora smiled a little, "You guys haven't eaten today have you?"

They all shook their head and Naruto added, "We wanted to get here as fast as we could so we didn't stop."

Sora's eyes widened, "You guys are crazy! It's good that you wanted to get here fast, but you could've eaten along the way." She sighed, "Oh well, guess that's in the past."

She looked at their sad faces then caught Kakashi's eye.

He sighed and said, "How many?"

"One would be ok, but it'd be best if you could catch two."

Everyone was looking between the two of them. Kakashi got up and started into the forest.

"Two what?" Naruto wondered aloud. They all looked back at the doorway but Sora had already gone back inside.

Naruto looked back at the others. "Is it me or is Kakashi-sensei acting a little weird?"

"I agree. Could it be because he's not wearing his mask?" Lee put in.

"No, it can't be that," Gai said.

They all sat back and looked into their small fire. Twilight was gathering fast.

Night had completely fallen and there was still no change in Tenten's condition. Sora had sent Sakura outside to catch some fresh air. She was sitting by Sai and Naruto just watching the fire crackle. Everyone was quiet except for an occasional growl from a stomach. Sakura sighed and looked up at the stars. Everyone could feel the tension and worry in the air, but no one budged to lighten the mood. The crunching of leaves reached their ears and they looked quickly into the forest and saw a small light coming their way. Every one tensed and a couple brought out a kunai. The little light came closer and it entered the clearing and stopped. It was a small lantern held by a young boy of about 12 years. He stared at the group around the fire and they stared back.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked.

"I could ask the same of you," the boy replied snobbily.

Naruto's fist clenched.

"Naoya, what have we told you about that language." Sora stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips.

Naoya looked stubbornly at the woman. "Well, he started it."

"That doesn't make a difference," Kakashi's voice answered from the forest. He walked into the clearing with two bucks draped over his shoulders. He took them to the back of the house then came to stand by the outside fire.

"Kakashi, your back!" Naoya put the lantern down and ran to him giving him a bear hug before he had a chance to stop him.

Kakashi looked down at his newly acquired growth uncomfortably and pried him off gently. When the boy was finally off of him he looked a little sternly down and said, "I believe you owe my friends an apology."

Naoya's eyes widened and he looked back at the others who were still staring shocked at the two.

"You guys are his friends?! Does that mean you're ninja as well?!"

Kakashi put his face in his hand while Sora chuckled quietly behind him.

Naruto looked at the boy like he was an idiot. "Yeah we're ninja. What about it?"

"Cool! I promise I won't tell any one. I swear it!"

The others looked up at Kakashi and Naruto asked, "Why is he promising not to tell anyone?"

At that question Naoya's hyperness dropped to zero and he looked down a little sadly.

Kakashi looked at his comrades, "Ninja are feared and hated here."

"What? But don't they have a ninja village nearby?" Naruto asked a little loudly.

Kakashi shook his head. "Chakra doesn't work in this valley. I don't know why either."

"So you can't focus any of your chakra either?" Gai asked seriously.

Again, Kakashi shook his head.

Sakura looked at Naoya. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he mumbled.

"No, there's something bothering you. What's wrong?" Sakura persisted.

The boy didn't answer.

"It's about what your grandma said, isn't it?" Kakashi asked gently.

Naoya looked up at him, "I'm really sorry about what she said!"

Kakashi held up a hand. "It wasn't your fault."

"But those guys followed me there making you fight them!"

"That's still not your fault for what she said."

The boy looked down.

Kakashi sighed, "Grab your lantern and come help me skin these deer."

Naoya grabbed his lantern and followed Kakashi behind the house.

The other ninja stared at their disappearing backs.

"Who the hell was that?" Naruto said quietly.

Sora looked at him a little angrily, "That was a friend from town and his name is Naoya."

Naruto shook his head, "No, that wasn't our Kakashi-sensei. Did you give him some kind of poison to change his personality?"

Sora looked shocked at him, "I would never do that and besides I don't know of any thing that'll completely change a person's personality."

Everyone looked skeptically at her.

"I swear it!" she said holding up her hands.

"Uh-huh." Naruto still looked a little suspiciously at her.

She rolled her eyes and was about to go back inside when Gai stopped her.

"What exactly did Naoya-kun's grandmother say to Kakashi-sensei and who did he have to fight?"

Sora looked sadly back at them, "You'll have to ask Kakashi on most of that but I will tell you that what he said about ninjas being feared is true. Mrs. Aikawa called him a demon and a freak after he protected us." She turned and walked back inside.

The 6 of them stared in shock at each other.

"Kakashi a freak?" Sakura whispered.

"Yeah, even after he protected them," Naruto added.

The candle light flickered on 5 figures crouched around the small table.

"Has our leader's son come back yet?"

"Yes, his training in an outside village has been completed."

"Was it wise of our leader to send his son out of the valley even when he himself isn't welcome out there anymore?"

"It was needed if we are to learn the ways of fighting the outsiders do faster, in order to win these battles. Now, both our leader and his son are ninja."

All 5 looked quietly at the little flame.

"I just hope that the boy wasn't given any ideas by the outsiders to second guess our fights."

The other 4 nodded.

* * *

oooo a conspiracy lol i'm a dork i kno lmao :)

**hehehe here's a teaser from a future chapter:**

_Kakashi pulled hard at his bindings, but gave up; both rope and metal bound his hands. He leaned back against the cool rock and looked out at the orange and purple sky as the sound of the water was slowly coming nearer and the stinging on his cheek increased._

_Maybe this really is the end, he thought to himself._

well as i said "future chapter" it is farther into the future and not in the next few, but this is a final typing for that chapter and this is an exact copy of the words that are not going to change and i just like how they sounded so i was like "gotta put this in now!" so i did, don't u jus luv lil teasers XD


	8. Chapter 8

once again nothin much to say

dis: same as norm

* * *

"KAKASHI!" Sora yelled at the top of her lungs.

All the guys looked in fear upon Sora as she paced the clearing in the afternoon light furiously. "Where the hell did that bastard go? When I get my hands on him, he's dead."

Gai and all the teenagers were envious of Sakura who was watching over Tenten in the house. She didn't have to stand in the same clearing as a pissed Sora.

Sora stopped pacing and took another deep breath. As she was about to let it out in another scream, Kakashi appeared out of nowhere behind her and placed his hand over her mouth quickly. She glared up at him.

"If you promise not to scream, I'll remove my hand."

Her glare deepend as she grabbed his wrist and flung him over her back. He landed on his feet, but with a somewhat nervous look.

"Where the hell have you been?! I've been looking for you for hours and you just now decide to turn up!"

"I thought it was just a few minutes ago that you decided to start looking for me?" he replied casually.

"Then you should've been here a few minutes ago!"

He scratched the back of his head, "I don't have any chakra so I can't appear right when you call, Sora-san."

"That doesn't make any difference! What the hell were you doing anyways?!"

Everyone that was observing the conversation looked in admiration at Kakashi because he was standing so calmly while Sora was raging in front of him.

"Looking for the herbs that I noticed you were low on," he replied.

She stopped and blush started to creep into her face. "Oh, well then…did you find any?" she asked with slight embarrassment.

The other ninjas in the clearing did a face plant at her change of mood so quickly.

"Yes, just a little though."

"Oh, then where are they?" She looked at his hands expecting to see any plant.

"I wasn't able to grab them because you were yelling for me." He smiled like it was a normal thing.

Everyone (excluding Sora) stared in disbelief at Kakashi's casual tone.

Sora walked back towards the house while saying, "Well, I guess I'll have to send you back there to get them." She walked inside then came back out carrying a big basket, which she handed to Kakashi.

He looked down at it a little uncomfortably, "Do I have to carry this?"

Sora's hands went to her hips and she glared death at him.

"N-not that it matters that much," Kakashi laughed nervously.

"Good. Now why are you still here?"

"Didn't you need something? Wasn't that why you were hollering for me?"

"Yes I did. I was going to have you go get me more herbs."

Kakashi stared at her like she was stupid, but she ignored it and went back into the house.

Everyone let out a sigh.

"How the hell can you put up with her, Kakashi-sensei? I mean, one second she's about to kill you and the next she's acting like nothing happened," Naruto asked.

"I myself don't know how." He looked down at the basket with a little disgust. After all, it did look like a picnic basket and not something a guy like him would carry.

From the tree line that was in the direction of the village, faint laughter came. Everyone quickly looked in that direction. Kyoshiro was holding his hand in front of his face and trying to hold in laughter.

Kakashi relaxed and the others followed his lead.

"Hello, Kyoshiro-san. What's so funny?" Kakashi asked.

"It's just that I could hear Sora-san's yell when I was halfway here." He started laughing harder.

"Pardon me, but I don't see how that's funny," Lee commented.

Kyoshiro looked up at Lee, gaining some control over his laughing. "I'm sorry but, when you've been on the receiving end of Sora-san's anger, it's funny to see her take it out on others."

"Hn. What brings you here Kyoshiro-san?" Kakashi asked.

"I was curious if you were still around and I've been meaning to catch up with old times with Sora-san, so I decided I'd visit."

"She's in the house, but before you go talk to her, let me leave. Otherwise she'll yell at me again if she sees that I'm still here."

"Understood. I'll wait a few seconds after you've left."

"Thanks." Kakashi turned and sulked into the forest.

After his back disappeared, the others turned and looked at Kyoshiro.

He bowed slightly and said, "I'm Yuichi Kyoshiro, former ninja from the village hidden in the rocks."

Everyone jumped in shock.

"Former ninja? Then what are you doing here?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

Kyoshiro smiled slightly. "I wasn't that good at being a ninja and I've found peace here, so I stayed."

"Uh-huh." Naruto still looked suspiciously at him.

"You don't have to believe me if you don't want to. May I ask your names? I presume you're Kakashi-san's friends. Am I right?"

"Yes, we're comrades and eternal rivals," Gai said a little too loudly.

Kyoshiro looked confused. "Rivals?"

"Yes," Lee answered, "Gai-sensei and Kakashi-sensei have long been rivals!"

Kyo noticed a few of the others roll their eyes. Then he noticed Neji's eyes. "You must be from the Hyuuga clan, right?"

Neji looked emotionlessly at him. "Yes. I am Hyuuga Neji."

"An honor to meet you peacefully, Hyuuga-san." Kyo bowed slightly.

Neji returned the bow with a nod.

"Hey, hey, don't forget me! I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Future Hokage!"

Kyo smiled at the blonde's energy. "Then I best be treating the future Hokage with respect."

"Please. He doesn't need anything else to boost his ego."

Naruto pouted at the doorway. "Sakura-chan, how can you be so mean?"

Kyo looked at the pink haired kunoichi standing there. "Hello, I'm Yuichi Kyoshiro."

"Haruno Sakura. Nice to meet you."

"The pleasure's all mine," he replied kindly back.

"Sakura-san, how is Tenten?" Lee asked.

She sighed. "Her fever is nearly gone. We're guessing that she'll wake up tomorrow at the earliest."

The Konoha ninjas sighed.

Kakashi walked back into the clearing an hour later. Gai and Lee were sparing while Sai sat off by himself drawing. Sakura and Naruto both were sleeping, but at opposite outside corners of the house. Neji sat leaning against a tree with his eyes closed. Kakashi couldn't tell if he was asleep or not. As he walked past the boy, he opened his eyes.

"Kakashi-sensei, do you trust Kyoshiro-san?"

Kakashi stopped and looked down into the pale eyes. "No. I'll take it you don't either?"

Neji shook his head. "I get a bad feeling from him and his reason for being in this valley is odd."

"That's the same thing I thought, but there isn't much we can do to prove it. For now we should just be on our guard."

Neji nodded and closed his eyes as Kakashi continued to the house. When he walked in he saw Sora talking quietly with Kyoshiro at the table. When she saw him, she smiled brightly.

"You were gone for a long time. Did you find a lot of herbs for me?"

Kakashi walked over and placed the basket in front of her. She opened it and gasped. It was completely full of herbs. Carefully, she started taking out the plants and sorting them on the table in front of her. As she did this, Kyoshiro looked up at the white haired jounin.

"Kakashi-san, there's another reason why I came today."

Kakashi looked at him.

"I've reason to believe that both neighboring villages are going to attack this town."

"What's that got to do with me?"

"For one, Naoya-kun could get hurt or killed and also it'll put Sora-san here in danger."

Sora stopped and looked at Kakashi as well. "I've also heard this rumor, but only of the Southern village attacking, not the Northwestern one as well."

Kyoshiro nodded solemnly. "I had just received word from a friend in that village that many are getting angry towards this one because we've become prosperous."

"Once again it's money," Sora muttered as she went back to her plants.

"I still don't see why you're telling me this," Kakashi stated.

"Sora-san told me that you've been gone for a while and she also told me why you left. If these villages do attack, your killings could come public and it would put both Sora-san and me in danger with this town because they would think you brought these attacks upon us."

"So, no one has found out about those 2 men that I killed?"

Both shook their heads.

"I had gone to Kyoshiro after you left to help us get rid of the men," Sora said quietly.

"Then did you find out what kind of connection Naoya-kun had with those men?" Kakashi asked while leaning up against the table.

Sora walked over to a cupboard and grabbed a spool of thread and came back tying the plant bundles. "He said he was helping a group of villagers smuggle some supplies to the other villages to help quell any possibility of attacks, but then they started smuggling some odd stuff that shouldn't leave this village, like weapons and medicine. He remained quiet about it, but then they thought he had found out some kind of secret, but he really didn't yet they wouldn't believe him. That's why they sent those men that night."

Both men watched as she took a chair over to the wall and started tying plants up. Gai and Lee were still sparing outside. When Sora tied the last bundle up, she looked at Kakashi, "So, what are you guys going to do?"

He looked at her in confusion.

"Are you and your friends going to help us prevent these fights and find out this secret, or are you going to ignore it and try and find a way out of the valley while you know that both Naoya and I could die."

Kakashi looked calmly at her. "I don't know."

Neji appeared in the doorway. "Company."

They looked at him in confusion then Kakashi heard Lee and Gai stop sparring. He quickly walked outside and sniffed at the air. It was ripe with blood and footsteps could be heard on crackling leaves coming closer.

He looked at his comrades, "Hide and let no one see you here."

They all did as Kakashi said.

The footsteps came louder and 8 men came into view, half holding up the other half of the group. They saw Sora and the two ninja.

"Please, help us!" one gasped.

Sora ran over to where they had stopped, breathing heavily. "What happened?"

"We were only hunting when these men came out of no where and attacked. They also went to the village as well. There are many women and children dead in the streets!"

"Are they still in the village?" Kyoshiro asked.

They shook their heads. "Only a few of their fallen comrades. The others escaped."

"Take them inside, quickly. You'll have to place them on the floor in the main room though," Sora interrupted.

All the men walked in followed by Sora, except for Kakashi and Kyoshiro. They walked towards the tree line casually. When they got near they stopped and looked at each other.

"Gai, you can hear me, right?" Kakashi asked calmly.

A large piece of bark landed by his foot. "I want none of you to go to the village to help."

"You're not known and you will be mistrusted and possibly attacked. Out of defense you'll do normal moves a ninja would make and that would cause even more problems. It's best if you stayed here," Kyoshiro added.

"Is that understood by everyone?" Kakashi asked quietly.

Nothing happened. The two stood there waiting and soon, one by one, 6 large pieces of bark fell at their feet.

Kakashi and Kyoshiro walked back to the house and told Sora that they were going to the village to help. The 4 able bodied men went along with them as they ran back to town.

After they left, the others came out from their hiding places and met, still in the tree line, hidden.

"I don't like this. Why do we have to stay here when others need our help?" Naruto whispered angrily.

"Kakashi-sensei and Kyoshiro-san are right. We can't let our identities be known and now is not a good time to appear out of no where," Sakura replied quietly.

Naruto punched the ground. "I still don't like it."

Sakura got up and walked out into the clearing.

"Sakura-san, what are you doing?" Lee hissed.

She looked back at them, "I'm going to help Sora-san."

Walking quickly towards the house, she peeked inside the door. Sora was busy stopping the bleeding on one man's side. Sakura looked at each individual. They were all knocked out. "Um, Sora-san, can I help?"

Sora looked up. Kakashi had told her that he didn't want his friend's to be found out so they were to stay hidden, but she needed help and each man was out cold. "It's fine by me, but if one starts waking up, leave immediately."

Sakura nodded and came in and started tending to the closest man.

Back in the tree line the others sat quietly; each lost in his own thought. Naruto looked up at Neji. "Neji-san, how did you know someone was coming before we heard them?"

Neji looked up in exhaustion.

"Are you all right?" Lee asked.

Neji nodded. "I'm just tired from what I was doing."

"What were you doing?"

* * *

hehehehe cliffhanger, nuthin much in this chappie eh? lol

i can never come up with a good summary for this freakin fanfic so if u got a good summary for this story, send it through plz!! (either pm or review) and i'll think on it, if i use it credit will go to u in the next chapter i post after changing the summary, domo arigatou gozaimasu!! o i about forgot, the summary right now is an excerpt from a future chapter, me and my future chapters eh? but if u think the summary is good as it is and i should leave it as it is now, jus tell me in a review : )


	9. Chapter 9

hehehehe u remember that cliffie i had in the previous chapter **:evil grin:** it remains a cliffie until the next chapter mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha **:cough cough cough wheeze wheeze wheeze wheeze clears throat:** wahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hehehehehehehe heehee hee...XD i kno u luv me for that huh? lol

**New Summary!:**  
"trapped where chakra doesn't work, kakashi makes new friends, but he's forced to choose between forgetting them and finding a way home, or saving them and possibly loose his life while the conspiracies in the villages dig his grave"

Nire Sanam is the genius behind these words **:hands Nire a huge jar of chocolate chocolate chip cookies: **arigatou gozaimasu!! **:bows low:**

dis: me don't own naruto...jus this fanfic

* * *

Kakashi saw the village up ahead. The smell of blood was coming strongly on the breeze. As they came towards one of the streets, 9 men stepped out of hiding and stood in their path.

"Who are you?"

"Seita, it's me, Ichijo," one of their traveling companions said.

The one named Seita was a tall yet stocky man with dark hair. "I recognize all but the white-haired one."

"I am Hatake Kakashi. I'm a friend of Sora's."

Seita still looked suspiciously at him.

"She sent him with us to help with the wounded," Kyoshiro stepped in.

"You know about herbs and healing?"

Kakashi nodded.

"Very well," Seita and the others stepped to the side and they passed through into town. It was quiet and no one was out. They all remained together and ran towards the area where bloodshed had happened. When they reached it, they saw nothing but devastation. It wasn't in the busiest part of town, but it was a well traversed road. Now it was traversed by departed souls with their bodies left behind. A few men were starting to move the dead. Kakashi and Kyo looked around as their 4 comrades started slowly moving dead as well. The victims were mainly women and children as was said. A few men were also lying dead with weapons still in their hands.

"How could an attack like this happen so quickly and kill so many in broad daylight?" Kyo quietly mumbled.

Kakashi shook his head as he knelt down and examined the wound in a dead woman's body. It was a slash on the lower back and a stab to the heart.

"Hey, I found some one still alive! Get a doctor over here!" a man yelled from the end of the slaughter path.

Kakashi got up and ran over along with everyone else. It was a man with a cut 1/3 into his lower body. Everyone stood around at a distance as someone ran off to find a doctor. Three men were crouched near the dying man telling him that everything was going to be alright and to not speak to save his energy. Both Kakashi and Kyoshiro saw the man wanted to say something important as the light started to fade from his eyes. Kyo pushed through the crowd and crouched near the man's head.

"What is it you're wanting to say?" he asked quietly.

The dying man swallowed and breathed out a few words, then passed on. Kyo looked up at Kakashi as everyone looked expectantly at him. "He said they were fast and attacked with strange moves."

Kakashi turned and walked to the nearest body and knelt down examining it. This one had only a few small wounds, but they were deep. Kakashi walked over to another. It had no wounds, but a broken neck and a possible broken collar bone. "Kyo-san, take a look at some of these injuries. They're nearly precise on those killing points."

Kyoshiro walked over to a few dead bodies. The other men in the street watched them with shock. "You're right. Some have sword wounds, but most are broken bones or deep wounds in the right places from those knives."

The two looked at each other and thought the same thing: ninjas.

"Do you know who did this then?" one man asked.

"We have an idea," Kyoshiro said, "but we need more evidence. Please bring us all the weapons in this street and pile them by this man." He pointed to the man who just died.

Everyone did as asked and soon there was a large pile gathered. Kakashi and Kyoshiro started sorting through it, looking for any ninja weapon. There was nothing.

"These men were careful, even in this slaughter," Kakashi noted.

"Yes, or someone came through after them and picked up the weapons from the bodies," Kyo answered quietly.

"Excuse me."

Both ninjas looked around at a teenage boy.

"I found these." He held out a kunai and two shuriken.

Kakashi took them carefully from the boy's hand so as not to cut him. Holding them lightly in his hand, he tested their weight without giving any hint that he knew how to use them. After a minute he looked up at Kyo and nodded slightly then looked back at the boy. "Where did you find these?"

The boy blushed slightly at the sight of Kakashi's face and pointed towards a house. "In a small window well on that house."

Kyo and Kakashi walked over and looked down. A young girl was laying dead in the bottom next the small window. She had a hole in her temple.

"They weren't too good at retrieving all the weapons," Kyo stated.

Kakashi looked carefully at him out of the corner of his eye, but Kyo remained stoic.

"That's all the weapons, sirs."

Both men turned to see the other guys standing near them.

"Did you find what you were looking for," another man piped up.

Kakashi held out the kunai and shuriken.

The other men looked at it with curiosity. "What are those?"

"I believe they are weapons used by ninjas," Kakashi answered

"Ninjas!" all the men shouted.

Kakashi nodded his head.

One man looked suspiciously at Kakashi. "You're not one of them ninjas either, mister?"

Kakashi looked him in the eye and shook his head no.

"Then what happened to your eye?"

"I was attacked by some bandits a few years ago. Lost use of my eye after they cut it," he calmly answered.

"Then what are you doing in our valley?" another man asked.

Kakashi shrugged. "I was being chased by wolves and fell into a river. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in Sora's house."

They all stared at Kakashi. "The only river that comes from the outside in is Raider's Fork. You survived that current?"

Kakashi nodded with a look of "duh".

"You are a lucky man."

Kakashi shrugged as the man that called him lucky turned to his comrades, "We better report these weapons to the village head."

Kakashi handed over the shuriken and kunai. Some men turned and left while others went back to carrying the bodies to wherever they were carrying them to. Kakashi was about to help out with Kyo when he remembered something.

"Kyo-san, I need to find Naoya-kun. Sora-san would kill me if I came back without looking to see if he's alright."

Kyo smiled and nodded.

Kakashi left quickly. Naoya's house was on the other end of the village, but altogether, he had a bad feeling about it. Trouble seemed to follow the boy wherever he went.

Getting there was a little tricky since he was going away from the fighting area. So, he avoided people to avoid questions. Once he reached the run down house, he stopped, remembering Mrs. Aikawa's words. Sighing, he rubbed his face and knocked on the door. There was no answer. He tried again, but still no one came. Glancing around, Kakashi walked around back and glanced in Mrs. Aikawa's room. She was sound asleep. Walking around the whole house, Kakashi glanced in each window looking for signs of the boy, but there were none. Sighing in irritation, Kakashi walked back to the devastation side of town, all the while keeping an eye out for the boy.

A groan came from one of the many unconscious men in Sora's care. Sakura had to disappear into Tenten's room whenever another group of villagers came with wounded. Each time, Sora knocked out the new patients with a small sip of an herbal water she made. She did it just so she could have Sakura help her, but it was only meant for a little bit. She knew very well the danger she was putting Sakura in by letting her stay longer. As the man started moving to rub his face, Sora hurried over to Sakura.

"Sakura, go back out to your friends. I can take care of it here."

The kunoichi looked up at her and was about to say something, but Sora cut her off.

"Kakashi asked me to make sure no one found out about you guys. I can no longer threaten your guys' identity by letting you remain in here. Please, go back to your friends. I'll be fine."

Sakura slowly nodded and left quietly out into the fading twilight. Not even a few minutes after she left, the man opened his eyes. He was one of the four that were brought to her in the very beginning.

"Where am I?"

Sora walked over, "Safe."

He looked up at her and sighed. "I know I'm safe in your care." He chuckled.

Sora smiled and knelt by him. "How are you feeling?"

The man rubbed his eyes again. "I've got a splitting head ache and my side hurts, but that's about it. What about the others?"

"Your other hunting buddies?"

He nodded then winced from the movement.

"If there was a total of 8 of you then only 4 were brought to me unconscious and all survived."

The man sighed again. "That's good."

Sora got up and fetched the man some clean water to drink. He took it gratefully from her hands. As she got up to check on a few others, Kakashi walked into the doorway and leaned against it, sighing.

* * *

gotta luv those cliffie's eh? crud u guys r getting close to where i last stopped typing...gotta put my thinkin cap back on and type more lol

to those who ain't reviewing...i kno ur there...i don't bite...reviews are welcome : ) and a major thanks to the few that have reviewed!!


	10. Chapter 10

hehehe srry for the wait on the update...i had a evil lil plot bunny attacking my brain but i was able to get rid of it with a oneshot that i jus posted lol and i think i might have come up with a good idea to get around this new writer's block that is the size of the great wall of china so i should be posting faster like i usually do if this new idea works...if it doesn't then it'll be about a week before i post the next chappie on this lol

dis: do i have to repeat myself??

* * *

She looked up at him.

He saw the question in her eyes. "It's horrible. 63 dead and many more still wounded. I didn't find Naoya-kun either."

Sora froze where she stood. Kakashi could see the emotions running behind her eyes as she tried to gain control of herself so as not to cry. She had been worrying about the boy all day. Kakashi weaved around the people to her and stopped in front of her. The woman was shaking slightly from suppressed sobs. Gently, he reached up and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, holding her close. Sora gripped his shirt tightly as she still tried to hold everything in. A few sobs escaped.

"It's alright, Sora-san. Naoya's a strong boy. I'm sure he's fine."

She stood there in his arms still trying to get a hold of herself. After a few more minutes, the sobs stopped escaping and she leaned her head against his chest, crying quietly. Kakashi looked around at the full room. Wounded were all lying next to each other, sleeping peacefully. He noticed the man that was awake, but he was looking away. Another person was stirring near him. Kakashi pulled Sora from his embrace and looked at her downcast face. Tears still streamed down it. Kakashi wiped them away.

"You've got people who need you and I need to go hunting."

She nodded and turned away. Kakashi watched her walk amongst her patients for a little bit then went into Tenten's room. The young kunoichi was still sound asleep, and from the faint light coming in from the main room, he could see most of the color had returned to her face. Walking quietly over to where their packs were stored, he fished through his and pulled out a new shirt. The one he was wearing had blood on it from all the dead. Glancing once more at the young girl to see if she really was asleep, Kakashi quickly switched shirts then grabbed his kunai pouch from his pack and strapped it to his right leg. Walking quickly out so no one that was conscious could ask what it was on his leg, he stepped into the cool evening air. The breeze from earlier had stopped, but the blood could still be detected faintly. Taking a deep breath he smelled where the others were hiding. Walking quietly over they saw him and watched him come. Once in the tree line, Kakashi sighed and leaned up against a tree.

"63 dead, numerous wounded. Most likely ninja."

"What?!" the others hissed.

"The dead had small wounds from kunai or shuriken, broken bones, or at most 3 sword wounds. The broken bones were in the places that if hit hard enough, would kill, and they did. Also it seems that they picked up the weapons that they threw. All except for 3, a kunai and 2 shuriken. Those are in the hands of the village head."

"If the weapons were picked up then they must've been fast and kept count of exactly how many they threw," Sakura noted.

"But I thought there weren't any ninja around here?" Naruto stated.

"There isn't, that's why this is strange," Kakashi answered. "Another thing is that it was Kyoshiro-san who came up with the idea of the enemy picking up their weapons."

"His reason for being here is strange," Gai said quietly. "If there aren't any ninja villages in this valley then they were either hired, or some one taught them and has access to our type of weapons. Yet, who would do that to attack a village in the middle of no where?"

"There are 3 villages in this valley and they are all fighting with each other," Kakashi answered.

"Why?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi shrugged. "Even Sora-san doesn't know and she advised me to not go around and ask those types of questions either because she had the whole town hating her for it one time."

"That's ridiculous! She's their healer!" Sakura whispered loudly.

Kakashi shook his head. "She'll heal any body, that's why the villagers don't really care for her."

"That's stupid," Naruto said huffily.

Kakashi smiled slightly.

"Oh, Kakashi-sensei! Guess what Neji-san found out?" Naruto said excitedly.

The jounin looked at the younger jounin.

"I might have found a way to use my byakugan, to an extent."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

Neji pulled out a small sapphire jewel. "I found this after we came off the waterfall. For some reason it had a faint glow about it so I decided to examine it. After a while, nothing happened so I decided to try my byakugan again. I had forgotten that I was holding it while I tried, and something happened. It's hard to describe, but it was like I could sense every living thing that was touching the ground around me, but only for a second. After that I felt exhausted and the jewel was glowing a little brighter. I've been working with it off and on for a while and I can now sense in a radius about the size of Sora-san's clearing around her house, but only for a few minutes. After that I need to rest for about 10 minutes to regain some strength, but each time the jewel dims with use and then glows a little brighter."

Kakashi looked at the small gem and noticed the faint glow it was emitting. He held out his hand and Neji placed it on his palm. Instantly Kakashi felt something tug at the inside of him. He realized that tug was on his chakra he could feel, but could never have used during his time in the valley. Curious, he focused on the little gem and pulled some chakra into his hand. He could call his chakra out. Looking at the tree he was leaning on, he pulled a large chunk of bark off and held it in his other palm. Kakashi focused some chakra, did a few seals (while holding both gem and bark) then concentrated on the bark. It disappeared in a small poof of smoke and in its place was a kunai. The others looked shocked at it, but after a minute it changed back into a piece of bark and Kakashi was breathing a little heavier than normal. He looked back down at the sapphire. Its glow was getting brighter and he felt his chakra flowing out of his hand into it. Kakashi was about to drop the stone when it stopped pulling his chakra and the glow dimmed.

"What the hell?" Kakashi muttered.

"Are you ok, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

He nodded and looked at Neji. "Does it take some of your chakra when you get done using it?"

Neji nodded. "At first I believed that it took the same amount that we use, but after each time I used it, it got a little brighter."

"What exactly happened, Kakashi?" Gai asked seriously.

"I think it opens whatever is hindering our chakra and allows us to use it, but at a cost of some of our chakra."

"How would it allow us to do that?"

Kakashi shook his head. "Unless we're using what's stored in the jewel itself and it takes from us to replenish itself."

"I've never heard of a jewel taking chakra on its own," Naruto said.

"Neither have I," Kakashi mumbled. He handed it back to Neji. "If you try to use your byakugan, why can't you see like you normally do?"

Neji shook his head.

"Maybe it only allows us to do things that it has a capacity to do?" Sai said.

"That's understandable," Lee said.

"Oh well, I need to go hunting, otherwise Sora-san will kill me out of hunger."

"I will join you, my rival, and whoever gets the most animals wins!"

Kakashi just stared at Gai.

"I think it is an excellent test of our abilities!" He smiled brightly.

Kakashi sighed and walked deeper into the forest with Gai following loudly behind him.

I doubt I'll find anything with this loud-mouth tagging along, Kakashi thought to himself.

Three men walked down a wide hallway. Towards the end they entered through a door into a small, unused room. Walking quietly to the closest they passed through a hidden door at the back of it. The hallway they now walked in was narrow and had small doors every few feet. They passed through one into a room full of other people. The only light showed through the fusuma door that was on the opposite end of the normal door.

"Are we all here?" a man near the fusuma asked.

"Yes, all that can get away unnoticed," one of the 3 men answered.

"Good, tell me of the devastation, Seita-san," the lone figure behind the fusuma said quietly.

Seita sat up straighter. "A total of 67 is dead now, my lord."

"And the weapons?" the voice asked.

Seita bit his lower lip, but continued to look at the fusuma, "All but 1 kunai and 2 shuriken were retrieved. Those are now in the hands of the village head."

Silence. Everyone squirmed quietly after a few minutes of it. Seita was almost sweating buckets.

After a while Seita spoke up, "My lord, what should we do?"

"Has anyone figured out what type of people those weapons belong to?"

"Yes," Seita whimpered.

"Who?"

"Kyoshiro Yuichi and a white haired man by the name of Kakashi Hatake."

"Kyoshiro-san wouldn't bother us, but this Hatake, did he have only one eye?"

"Yes, from what I could tell. His left eye was covered by a cloth," Seita replied.

There was silence again.

"My lord?" Seita whimpered again.

"Sharingan Kakashi, eh? So those men weren't lying about a white haired demon with a red eye. Who is he staying with in this valley and is there anyone else with him?"

"He's staying with Sora and as far as we know, there is no one else with him," Seita answered.

"Good, get rid of him, but be careful. He is a jounin ninja and ex-anbu after all. If he starts getting into this fight, then our chance of winning disappears."

"Yes, lord!" everyone answered.

"My lord?" another man piped up.

"What?"

"Should you leave town, just to be safe and all?"

Laughter came quietly from the other side of the door. "No, if I do then I'll be suspected. Besides, I'm not leaving without that boy. Is that understood?"

"Yes, lord," the man answered.

Naoya ran. He had been running all day. If it weren't for the full moon, he wouldn't have made it so far into the forest. He didn't understand why they were after him, let alone know them. All he was doing was walking around town when these men came out of no where and started killing everyone. He ran like everyone else, but one man grabbed him then laughed and shouted at the others saying that they had found the boy.

What do they want with me? Naoya thought as he panted through the forest.

After the man had picked him up and shouted that, he rammed his elbow into the man's diaphragm and ran off into the forest. At first he could hear them following, but then he couldn't tell anymore. H just continued running. Like he was doing now. Fear was continuing to drive him forward. A small creek appeared and he jumped it. The shrubs and bushes were getting thicker, making it harder to run and causing all kinds of scratches to appear on his unprotected skin. Howling broke out around him. Naoya stopped and looked around in panic. Light showed through better to his left, so he ran in that direction. As he got closer to the clearing the howling came louder. Naoya put on more speed then fell. He didn't just fall on the ground, he fell under it. When he landed, a sharp pain with a dull crack came from his right leg. Screaming out, he grabbed his leg and sat back. The scream reverberated back to him and he looked up. Light was streaming down from the roof where he fell through. It illuminated a small cave. Water was flowing in a tiny stream at the other end that was probably 3 feet away. Looking around revealed absolutely nothing. In all, the cave was only 4 feet in diameter with the ceiling low and sloped up to the opening that was about 7 feet up. Naoya leaned back against the dirt and rock wall, sobbing. The howling was loud now.

Can anyone help me, he thought closing his eyes and breathing hard with sobs.

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and the conspiracies deepen lol reviews still welcome : )


	11. Chapter 11

grrr attack of the evil plot bunnies take 2 sheesh, i was jus thinkin bout stuff for oneshots and i told my mom cuz she tends to give some good ideas, well she started sayin stuff like "ferret anime" or "horsey anime" (she doesn't kno diddly squat when it comes to anime/manga lol) and i was like noooooo but then she said "crazy mom anime" and that got me thinkin lmao so i now possibly have a comedy fanfic comin up IF i can think up some funny stuff to put in it lol and yes it'll be a naruto one lol but it'll probably be a while before it comes up if i do post it lol

disclaimer: don't make me repeat myself **:evil glare:**

* * *

Sora sat up fast. She had been resting in Tenten's room through the night. Kakashi had made her rest. She only planned on sleeping for a couple hours, but looking out the window, she saw morning's light had already come. Untangling from the blanket, she hopped to the door and walked out quietly. Kakashi was sitting at the table and all her patients looked to be fast asleep. She looked over at the white haired man that was calmly sitting there, looking at her. She glared at him and walked over.

"Why didn't you wake me?" she hissed.

"You were sound asleep and everyone was fine," he quietly replied.

She crossed her arms and glared into his right eye. He stared back, not blinking.

Exasperated, she turned and started towards the door.

"Meesha hasn't returned," Kakashi said.

Sora looked back at him. "How long has he been gone?"

"Hasn't it been since the evening before last, when we returned with Tenten-san?"

Sora looked down then nodded. "He normally shows up by now, even with strangers."

Kakashi got up and walked towards the door. "I'll go look for him. I need the fresh air anyways."

He stepped outside and stretched, breathing deeply. His comrades' scent was old now. After returning from their hunt, Gai and Kakashi had agreed that it would be best if the others moved deeper into the woods so as not to be seen as easily.

Kakashi looked in the direction that would take him to his friends' new camp, but turned away, heading off into the forest on a different route. He wanted to be alone this time.

He had been walking for about 45 minutes when he noticed something odd in the underbrush. Kakashi had wandered deep into the forest without knowing it and as he looked closer to the ground, he caught a faint scent of Naoya. He followed the tracks until he came to a stream, then noticed that he was following them backwards. Turning around, he went along the path lightly. After a while he noticed a pair of wolf tracks along the trail as well, but it was only one pair. Picking up pace, he came to an area where Naoya had veered to the left. As Kakashi followed it, a familiar yip came to his ears. Looking up he saw Meesha coming towards him, wagging his tail happily. Kakashi knelt down and scratched along the wolf-dog's collar.

"Hello?" a faint voice echoed.

Kakashi looked up.

"Hello, is any body up there?"

"Naoya?" Kakashi replied in a loud whisper.

"Hello?"

Kakashi got up and continued walking along Naoya and Meesha's trail until he came to a hole in the ground right in the middle of the path. He looked down into it. Naoya looked back up at him covered in dirt and looked pale with fear.

"Kakashi!"

"What are you doing down there, Naoya-kun?"

"I was being chased by these men and then a pack of wolves and while I was running I fell down here and I think I broke my leg."

Kakashi looked at the boy's right leg. The lower part was bent oddly. "I believe your leg's broke as well. But your pack of wolves was merely Meesha chasing you."

"Meesha?!"

Kakashi nodded and brought the dog over to the hole's opening. The dog looked down happily."

"You stupid mutt! You scared the crap out of me last night! I'm going to hurt you when I get up there!"

Kakashi smiled. "And just how are you going to get up here?"

The boy looked down again. "I can't. I've tried, but I can't move much with this leg."

Kakashi looked around. There wasn't much, but a tree had fallen a long time ago, making the nearby clearing. Getting up, he walked over to one of the branches while Naoya yelled back in the cave. Walking around it, he found a branch that was short enough to go perfectly into the cave. Prying it loose, he walked over and stuck it into the hole.

"Got it," Naoya yelled back up.

Kakashi started pulling the boy up. Meesha was sitting nearby watching, when he got up and hid under a bush, growling. Kakashi glanced over at the dog's hiding place and pulled the boy out fast and pulling him close, placing his hand over the boy's mouth. Naoya looked up at him and noticed that he was on guard, so he remained quiet.

A few seconds later, Kakashi spoke up, "You'd better come out now. I already know you're there."

A man walked out from behind a tree about 20 feet away. He was dressed in simple farmer's clothing, but Kakashi never relaxed.

"You're good."

Three sharp needles entered Kakashi's neck and he felt his legs start to give out.

"As expected of an ex-anbu that our leader has heard of," the man said walking towards them.

Kakashi heard Naoya scream something as he blacked out.

Sora paced impatiently amongst her patients. All of them were awake and were spread out both outside and inside the house. Thankfully they were doing as she asked. Once everyone was taken care of inside, Sora walked into Tenten's room. The brown haired kunoichi was still asleep. Leaning back against the closed door, she sighed. She wanted to go to Kakashi's friends and ask if they've seen him all day, but her duty was to her patients and she had to keep the others secret. Especially since the village attack was done by ninjas. Sora didn't know if she could fully trust Kakakshi's "comrades" though. They weren't even here for a week and this attack was done by ninjas. Sliding down the wall, Sora sat with her head in her hands, thankful that Kakashi had let her sleep as long as she did. Otherwise she wouldn't be having this much patience as she did now. She thought back to the day that she had found Kakashi. She remembered what he looked like as she tended to the wounds on his side. The way the light had played upon his muscles. Sora banged her head against the wall hard twice.

Get those thoughts out of your head Sora, she thought angrily. He's just a friend, that's all.

The small little smirk he always had whenever he had tricked her came to her mind. Sora smiled then realized what she had done and banged her head against the wall again. A groan came from Tenten and Sora went over to her quickly. The young girl's hand moved and rubbed her eyes.

"Where am I?" she croaked.

"Shh, you're safe, but you need to be quiet."

Tenten cracked her eyes and looked at the woman, then shot up grabbing for where her kunai pack should've been. Looking down at her leg, she found it gone. Glaring back up at Sora, she said, "Who are you? Where's everyone else?"

Sora glanced quickly at the door and motioned for her to be quiet and whispered, "I'm a friend of Kakashi's. Now please, don't talk to loud."

Tenten narrowed her eyes.

Sora recognized the look of suspicion from when Kakashi had first woke up. "You're friends are fine and are waiting for you in the forest, but they're hiding because there was an attack on our village and it was done by ninja. They're hiding because our village doesn't know about them, or you, and if they find out then you'll all most likely be killed."

Tenten still didn't relax.

"Please, just wait here and I'll go get one of them. Please."

"Fine."

Sora smiled in small relief and walked to the door. Placing her ear next to it, she heard the others talking normally. Opening the door quickly and closing it quickly, Sora walked outside with an empty bucket for water. The patients that were inside weren't fooled and had heard the loud words of "who are you". They watched her go suspiciously.

Sora walked quickly towards Naruto and the others. When she came near she said loudly, "It's me."

Everyone came out of no where causing her to jump even more.

"Tenten's awake, but please get her out of there before the villagers start suspecting something."

"Lee?" Gai said.

Lee nodded and jumped up into a tree and took off for the house. Sora looked at the others.

"Has anyone seen Kakashi?"

"We thought he was with you," Naruto answered.

Sora shook her head. "I asked him to go look for Meesha since he hasn't shown back up for a couple days now. He left early this morning."

"Meesha?" Naruto asked.

"My dog."

"Kakashi-sensei hasn't arrived back since?" Gai asked looking up at the noon high sun.

"Yeah. I've had a bad feeling for a while now too."

"Don't worry, I'm sure he's fine and just reading his book somewhere, but we'll go look for him," Sakura said smiling.

"I doubt that."

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"Because I never gave him that book back. It's still locked up in my dresser. I even saw it there this morning."

The others looked at each other.

"We'll go look for him right away then," Sakura said.

"Thank you." Sora walked off and headed for the stream. When she came back to her house, the others were looking at her weirdly. Walking inside, she felt the same tension.

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cliffie XD lmao, sheesh took forever to get this story goin eh? crap! u guys only have about 2 chapters for a difference between where this stops and where i've stopped typing on the story eek! better get typing!

REVIEW PLZ XD it'll keep motivating me to keep writing this cuz i'm startin to get a lil bored with it lol


	12. Chapter 12

hmmm once again nuthin much to say so enjoy the chappie : ) o and that cliffie will remain a cliffie till bout halfway down this chapter lol

diclaimer: me: zzzzzzzz

Kakashi: **:nudges me with foot: **wake up, you've gotta do the disclaimer

me: **:rolls over:**

Kakashi: **:without lookin up from book, kicks me in the side: **

me: ok, ok, me don't own **:falls back asleep:**

* * *

Kakashi took a deep breath as consciousness came back to him. Opening his eyes slowly, he started to look up, but couldn't move his head very far. The back of his neck was numb. Glancing around, Kakashi realized that his cloth to cover his eye was gone. He closed his left eye quickly and looked around the best he could with his right. From what his hanging head could allow, all he saw was rock. He took another deep breath and smelled one other person, but wasn't exactly sure of their position because of the dank rock smell. He tried to move his hands, but they were bound around something cold behind his back. Kakashi moved his legs and found them free at least. He tried to lift his head again, it slowly moved as his muscles protested. When he was able to look around, he found that he was in a small crevice and light was filtering down from a wide crack near the ceiling. A person was sitting next to it on the outside with their back to him. Kakashi's neck gave out and he hung his head again, with a slight queasy feeling. His groggy mind was starting to slip back into unconsciousness. He fought against it, but failed and went back to sleep.

Neji ran quietly amongst the trees. All of them but Sakura, Lee, and Tenten were searching for any sign of their missing friend. Neji felt the most helpless of them all because he couldn't use his byakugan. A clearing was coming up ahead. Slowing down, Neji came to the edge of the tree line and stood at the bottom of a grassy hillock. He stepped quietly out into the opening and listened carefully. Nothing came to his eyes or ears so he climbed to the top quickly. Once he reached the summit, he knelt down so as to lessen the chances of being seen. The sound of water rushing came quietly to his ears. As he crept towards the source, he came to an edge that cut steeply down to a large river. Men were standing on the banks closest to him. Counting them quietly, Neji saw another person wandering aimlessly towards the burly group. It was a teenage girl. He went back to counting and found that there were 14 men on the river bank. Looking back at the girl, he saw she was still walking towards the bend that had hidden her from the view of the men. Rounding it, she stopped and all the men looked at her.

"Who the hell are you?" one man demanded.

The girl stood stock still.

"Bitch, we asked you a question, now answer it!" another shouted.

She didn't say anything.

Neji shifted position, then fell. The earth that he was laying on had given way and he slid down the brush covered slope. Everyone on the bank looked up and saw the falling dirt and rocks.

Neji kept repeating the word shit over and over in his mind. He landed on his side on the bottom, the dirt cloud enshrouding them all. Lying right where he landed, head buried under his arms, he thought quickly. Nothing came to his mind except the shocked look Naoya had given him when he saw his eyes for the first time.

"What the hell!" a man coughed out finally.

The dust cloud thinned and Neji stood up, with his now free hair hanging all around him, keeping his eyes down.

"Just who the hell are you?!" a man demanded.

Neji looked up and right at the men. They all stepped back when they saw his white eyes. Taking advantage of it, Neji pulled out 3 kunai and threw them at the men then followed the knives. The kunai hit 3 men, only wounding them, but Neji continued with Taijutsu, knocking everyone out cold in the clearing, except for the girl. Standing up straight in the midst of the bodies, he looked right at the girl. She gasped and fell backwards.

"D-don't hurt me! I didn't see anything! I promise!"

Neji walked towards her, his eyes never leaving hers. She started shaking as he came closer. Reaching down, Neji picked her up by the shirt collar and held her up against the rock that made the bend.

"Your name?" he hissed.

"Karina."

"Karina what?"

"Karina Morii."

"Tell me, Karina-san, have you seen a man with white hair around here?"

She stared into Neji's white eyes again. He could feel her chest start to heave with sobs. Fear covered every part of her face. Neji never looked away, but made her look right into his eyes.

"Have you seen such a man?" he repeated.

She shook her head no.

Neji opened his hand and she fell to the ground near his feet, not looking up. He pulled out another kunai and held it to her throat.

"You better not be lying to me," he growled.

Her body was stiff. "I swear I've never seen a white haired man in these parts."

Neji turned the kunai around and hit the back of her head with the blunt edge, knocking her out as well. As her body slumped to the ground, Neji retrieved his other 3 kunai and resumed the search.

Sora stared at the villagers that were standing around her now. "What have I done to anger you?"

"You're hiding one of them bastards that attacked our village, aren't you?" a blonde haired man asked quietly.

"No," Sora shook her head violently. "I would never do that."

"Then what are these?" A short, brown haired man came forward followed by another carrying the packs from Tenten's room. They opened a couple of them to reveal ninja weapons. Everyone glared back at Sora.

She stared at the bags, trying to come up with an excuse quickly.

"Well?" a woman demanded.

"I-i…"

"Those would be ours."

Everyone turned to the doorway. Standing tall there were Sakura, Lee, and Tenten.

"Just who the hell are you?" the blonde man asked again.

"We're the ninjas that Sora-san has hired to figure out this mess," Sakura replied.

"Ninjas!" Everyone was staring in fear and hatred at them.

The 3 felt the oppressive stares, but remained standing tall.

"Yes, we were visiting her when your village was attacked. She then asked us to find those who've done this," Lee said.

Everyone looked at Sora angrily.

The short, brown haired man stepped towards her, "You've been hosting ninjas and not telling anyone?!"

Sora regained her composure and looked the man straight in the eye. "Yes. I had healed one of them a long time ago and we've remained friends since. If you don't like the idea of help from ninjas to fight against ninjas, then I'll just send these 3 back to their village."

The others looked at each other.

"How do we know that they're not the ones who did this in the first place?" a person in the back asked. Everyone in the room agreed loudly to this, but one man. It was the youngest of the 4 wounded hunters that were brought to Sora.

He came forward and looked at Sakura. The pink haired girl stared back. The man started to smile then looked at his fellow villagers. "If they are the ones who destroyed ¼ of our town, then why would they help heal us?"

"What? What are you talking about Ryuichi?" the blonde demanded loudly.

"Simple, I remember this very girl tending to nearly everyone in this room. She helped Sora take care of us from the start."

Sora and Sakura exchanged wide eyed looks.

"If that's true, then what were the other two doing?"

"I was unconscious in the room behind you, recovering from poison," Tenten replied.

"And I was guarding this house," Lee added.

The others looked at one another, muttering. The 3 shinobi heard many saying that they still didn't trust them and that their weapons should be confiscated. Sakura stepped forward and banged her fist on the doorsill twice to get attention.

"If you wish for our help, then tell us now, otherwise we'll be taking our leave. Either way, we keep our weapons or we won't be able to fight the enemy."

More muttering erupted amongst the people. Lee shifted so he could be ready to run for the bags any minute, but stopped. The hunter had stepped forward and grabbed all 8 bags and, limping, placed them by Sakura's feet. He looked into her green eyes.

"I ask that you aide us in figuring out who attacked us and for what reason." He bowed as low as his stiff body would allow.

Sakura felt a small blush start to appear on her cheeks, but took a small breath and looked at the others in the room. Slowly, one by one, they all bowed to them; some more than others.

"Well, now that that's decided, we can communicate freely."

Everyone looked up and saw Gai walking into the clearing followed by Naruto and Neji.

Naruto looked at the people that were still somewhat bowing. "Why are they bowing to you, Sakura-chan?"

The villagers blushed and stood up straight. The blonde man spoke up again. "And who might you be?"

"Maito Gai. I'm the one in charge of this little youthful group." He stepped up behind Lee.

Everyone looked at the resemblance between the two then some rolled their eyes.

"How many more surprises are expected to come from these people?" the blonde asked while looking at Sora.

She ignored him and looked at Gai. "Did you find him?"

Gai sighed and shook his head slowly. "My eternal rival isn't one to leave for a long amount of time and leave a young lady unguarded. Something must have happened to him. We didn't see any sign of the boy either."

Sora fell to her knees.

"Sora-san!" Sakura ran over and knelt by her. "Sora-san are you all right?"

"Why does everything happen to those two?" Sora whispered into her hands.

The shinobi standing in the doorway both heard that and saw the sadness run through the woman's body.

"It'll be alright Sora-san. Kakashi-sensei's strong. I'm sure he'll find his way back here with his same, lame excuses," Sakura said, smiling sadly.

Sora smiled up at the girl, "They were pretty lame excuses."

Both women chuckled softly.

"You're late, Karina," the stocky man said from his rock.

"I'm sorry, Murai, but I ran into some trouble while delivering a message to the men on the bank."

"What kind of trouble?" a scrawny teen asked bouncing up from behind a rock above the crevice.

* * *

damn, not much in this chappie but at least we see Neji more in this lol, i would post the nxt to make up for it, but i still don't have a lot of pages typed ahead of this to be willing to do that lol but rest assured, we see a lot more action in the upcoming chapter, it's all Kakashi in the next chappie : )


	13. Chapter 13

well srry for the late update, but i'm still on a major writer's block and so i'm spacing out the updates to a week apart to give me time to think...sadly i couldn't think of anything but a story to work on while in a writer's block lol i'm calling it In a Cat's Body (yes naruto fanfic)...and its jus somethin to give my mind to think on while its recuperating (sp?) from the brain fry i've been getting from tryin to get past this writer's block lol. You can check it out if you want cuz i'm postin it right after i post this chappie lol

i went to the midnight magic party at Barnes and Noble for the last harry potter book and all i did was sit by the mangas and read all night long XD yup it was fun : )

Oh! i read chapter 363 of Naruto and if i'm understanding it correctly then the leader to the akatsuki has been revealed! but then i'm a dork and i sometimes misinterperate (sp?) some things when i read them while i'm tired lmao

disclaimer: if i owned naruto it wouldn't be as far as it is now because i would've hit a writer's block lmao

* * *

"It seems that this man is not the only new ninja in this valley," she said while looking into the pit. The fading evening light was barely illuminating the floor where Kakashi was held. "Has he awoken yet?"

"We're not sure. If he did, he fell right to sleep," the stocky man replied.

The teenage girl smiled mischievously. "Well, Asano's sleep darts do last a long time for even one, and this man was hit with three. I'm surprised that his heart was even beating normally while we carried him here."

The teenage boy leaned over the crevice and looked down as well. "What was leader so worried about with this man? He was too easy to take down with my darts. I expected him to at least dodge one."

Karina smiled again. "This man was in one of the elite ninja groups in his village when he was our age, or so master says. I wouldn't underestimate him too much."

Asano looked up at the girl. "How do you know that he was in an elite group?"

"You moron, don't you pay attention when leader gives us descriptions? Look at his right shoulder. Do you see that tattoo?"

Asano cocked his head every which way. "No, but I will in a minute." He dropped down into the hole before the other two could stop him.

Kakashi had heard the whole conversation and heard the boy drop down to the floor of his prison. He kept his breathing calm and his eyes closed, letting his nose tell him when the boy got close. Asano crept towards him.

"Asano, you dipshit! Get your ass back up here before you get yourself killed," Karina shouted down.

"In a minute! I wanna see that tattoo." He continued walking closer.

Kakashi waited until his footsteps came to a stop and he heard the boy crouch down next to him. He breathed in the boy's scent, memorizing it.

"Whoa, this is a cool mark. Hey, Karina, can I have a tattoo like this?" He looked up hopefully at the girl.

Kakashi swung his legs and pinned the boy to the floor of the cave, digging his heels into the boy's spine and kidney.

"Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow OUCH!" the boy shouted as Kakashi put more of his weight into his feet. Karina and Murai jumped down and Karina hit Kakashi across the face with some claw like contraption as Murai freed Asano. Kakashi stared at the girl emotionlessly with his right eye. Karina glared back while Asano was crying into Murai's shoulder.

The staring contest continued for another minute when the stocky man interrupted, "Karina, we should start. The light's almost gone."

The teenage girl gave one last glare then turned to the other two. "Let this be your lesson of never jumping into a prisoner's confinement area," she hissed at Asano.

Murai got up and walked to a corner of the cave. "I need light."

"Go get the light, dumbass," Karina hissed at Asano.

The boy got up painfully and started to climb the wall.

"Hurry it up!" the girl barked.

Kakashi smiled slightly while he memorized where the boy climbed. Karina saw that he was watching Asano and came and stood in front of him. Kakashi merely closed his eye.

"Aw, did I scratch your pretty face?" She reached down and ran a finger along one of the 3 long, bloody scratches that ran along the left side of Kakashi's face.

He remained sitting still.

Karina pouted at his lack of emotion. "Why don't you show some pain? I know, you need more." She smiled and brought out the claw-weapon and held it in her right hand. Her smile widened as she crouched down in front of Kakashi. He peeked through his right eye and saw how she was crouched. As she pulled back her arm to stab him hard in his side, Kakashi kicked out with his right leg and knocked the girl halfway across the room to land near Murai. She gasped in between coughing fits. Asano laughed as he climbed the last foot down and lit a lantern. The sudden light brought Kakashi's confinement into focus. He looked around quickly and noticed a small creek running along the wall the 3 people stood by. It ran from a small entrance at the back of the cave to an exit wide enough for someone Naoya's size to squeeze through at the front of the cave. Murai grabbed a large boulder near that exit and rolled it on top of the hole. The small creek started to pile against it and creating a little pool immediately. The three smiled and looked at Kakashi.

"Welcome to your grave," Karina said sweetly.

Asano laughed as he and Karina started climbing back up. Murai stayed at the bottom. When the two reached the top, Karina threw something metal down. Murai picked it up and walked over to Kakashi. As he walked behind him, he noticed that they were metal cuffs. Murai clamped them onto his wrists then climbed back up the wall as well, but leaving the lantern.

He looked up at the entrance as Asano shouted down, "The light so you can see your fate." They all laughed and left.

Kakashi pulled hard at his bindings, but gave up; both rope and metal bound his hands. He leaned back against the cool rock and looked out at the orange and purple sky as the sound of the water was slowly coming nearer and the stinging on his cheek increased.

Maybe this really is the end, he thought to himself.

Sai wandered through the forest quietly, taking in all the sounds. He had found a few spots that he had hoped he would have time to come back to and draw. Looking up, he noticed that storm clouds were pressing in fast on the setting sun.

I better head back, he thought.

As he started to turn, a wolf appeared in his path. Sai stopped and avoided eye contact so as not to promote a fight. He looked at the animal's thickly muscled shoulders and noticed that the fur on his neck was separated. On a closer look, it revealed a collar. Sai then looked at the animal's face and saw no emotion hinting towards a possible attack, nor did he see any fear, but he did see a piece of cloth hanging from its mouth.

"Meesha?"

The wolf wagged his tail slightly. Sai crouched down slowly and held out his hand. The animal slowly stepped forward and smelled his hand. Satisfied, he gently pressed his head into the boy's hand. Sai started scratching the thick coat behind the ears. Meesha wagged his tail more. Smiling, Sai grabbed the cloth from the dog's mouth. It was Kakashi's eye cloth. He looked back down into the wolf's eyes.

"Do you know where Kakashi is?"

The wolf-dog turned and started heading north towards a small rocky mound that Sai had seen all afternoon. Thunder rolled threateningly as the clouds came faster.

Kakashi looked up as rain started falling. The sound of the creek had increased dramatically earlier as if rain was feeding it, now he knew that his assumption was correct. Water started pouring into the crevice as the rain continued to pound down outside.

At least I'll die faster, he thought gloomily.

The water crept up and soon he was sitting in an inch of water. The small streams that were coming in from the crevice had become small falls now. He sighed and slouched against the cool rock. Lightning flared and thunder cracked loudly, reverberating around the shallowing cave. Minutes passed on in noise. The water level was now up to his lower chest. His cheek was stinging badly from the dirty water splashing onto his face. Kakashi turned it away from most of the splashing and closed his eyes. After a while he was forced to stand up the best he could while leaning against the stone pillar.

Even with the uncomfortable stance he was forced to take, the water level still reached his neck and almost his lower jaw. He looked up at the dark opening sadly. Lightning cracked and a silhouette appeared against the opening. Over the splashing, Kakashi heard a high pitched whine.

"Meesha?" he shouted.

"Kakashi-san?" a voice hollered back.

"Yeah. Who's up there?"

"It's me, Sai. Meesha led me here."

Kakashi tried to see if it really was the quiet boy, but all he could see was darkness. The water was almost to his mouth. "I'm bound to this rock and the water's almost over my head."

There was no reply and a few seconds later there was an even bigger splash. Water covered Kakashi's head for a few second and when it receded he started coughing. More splashing than the normal came towards him and when he looked up, Sai was floating right next to him.

"My hands are tied with both rope and metal cuffs," he told the boy.

Sai swam behind him then ducked under water. Kakashi felt the boy feeling around on the bindings. A few seconds later he felt the ropes go loose. Sai continued examining the cuffs in the dark water. Kakashi was forced to tip his head back to free his mouth from the water. He felt the boy's hands leave the metal and a gasp came from behind him.

"Kakashi-san!"

"I'm still here, but hurry, I can't go any further up this damn column."

"I'm going to squeeze your hand every now and then. Please squeeze my hand back so I know that you're alive."

"Ok," Kakashi gasped. The water was nearly covering his face now.

Sai took a deep breath and went back under. After a few seconds Kakashi felt the boy put his hand in his, so he gripped hard then let go. Sai went back to doing whatever it was he was doing. He was nearly under water by now. Kakashi dug his heels into the somewhat rough stone and pushed up, giving himself a few more centimeters of breathing room, at the cost of cutting his arms badly on the rock. The boy gripped his hand and he replied. The water level reached his mouth again so he pushed up harder, but his feet slipped and Kakashi fell under.

Sai was nearly done with picking the lock when Kakashi's arms slipped down. He quickly pulled himself down the stone and squished Kakahi's hand with his own, there was a reply. He went back to work and finally after about another few minutes the old lock cooperated and the cuff clicked open. Sai swam around to the front and grabbed Kakashi, pulling him to the surface.

Once they were above water, Sai quickly gasped, "Kakashi-san?!"

No reply.

"Kakashi-san!" Sai placed his hand on the other man's chest, but it wasn't moving.

* * *

ok i can hear it now...all the screams of "why did u put this cliffie!" and my reply is simply : ) but really, u can review sayin that if u want, me don't care cuz it might get my lazy brain to think of how to get past this writer's block lol

o if u want to see if i'm on a major writer's block or if i've gone around it or any updates on stories or future stories or jus to see what's up in life (jus throwin that out there lol) check out my profile plz! XD


	14. Chapter 14

well another update XD lol i got my hair cut... it's styled like Riku's (kingdom hearts 2) and if i don't straighten it it'll curl and look like something from the 70's!! and that's a major noooooo thank a you but when it's straight it looks awesome lmao

dis: why must u always insist on this?! me don't own naruto!!

* * *

Gai, and the others sat in the spare bedroom of Sora's hut. They were joined by the blonde man, the short, brown haired man, Ryuichi, and Sora. They had been sitting in there for a couple hours after supper discussing what they all knew. The rain continued to pound on the roof.

Sakura looked out, "I wonder why Sai still isn't back yet."

"This Sai you keep speaking of, is he your boyfriend?" Ryuichi asked.

Sakura blushed as Naruto laughed.

"He's not my boyfriend," she stuttered, "He's just a friend. But it's not like him to be caught in the rain for this long."

Naruto stopped laughing and looked out the window as well. "Yeah, you're right." He looked back at Sakura and started laughing again.

Sakura got up and started pounding Naruto. "Quit laughing you jerk!"

Sora and the other ninjas laughed and when everything started to calm down they resumed their talk, but not even 2 sentences into it, barking could be heard faintly outside. Sora sat up and looked at the ninja.

"We heard it too," Tenten answered her look.

Sora got up and ran out to the front door. The other villagers that couldn't go back home because they were too wounded made a path for her. When she reached the door she swung it open. Meesha came trotting up wagging his tail wildly and barking at her. She stared at him then saw movement in the tree line.

"Who's out there?" she demanded.

The person stepped into the light streaming from the front door and Sora gasped. It was Sai and he had Kakashi draped over his shoulder with one of the man's arms wrapped around his neck.

"Oh no, get inside quickly!" She moved out of the way as Sai stumbled in and placed Kakashi on the floor before collapsing on the floor beside him.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto and Sakura yelled running over to the jounin.

Sora held out her hand for them to stop and crouched near the man's mouth. She heard him breathing, but it was shallow.

"He continues to stop breathing every now and then," Sai told her.

She looked up at the pale boy, "Where did you find him?"

"Bound to a stone pillar and nearly drowning in a cave on a rocky hill that way," he lifted his hand and pointed northwards.

"What! But Kakashi is a ninja, couldn't he have escaped?" she asked.

Sai shook his head. "He was bound by both rope and metal to a stone pillar that would barely allow my arms to wrap around it at its narrowest point."

Sora then looked closer at Kakashi's arms and noticed scrape marks on the sides and she looked at his wrists, they were bruised from where the bindings were. As she examined his left arm, his breathing stopped.

"Shit!" Sora leaned down against his chest and listened to his heart. It was faint and getting weaker. She then sat up and started performing cpr.

"Breathe damn it. Breathe," she hissed under her breath.

"Why would his breathing stop this much?" Sakura muttered under her breath. She then looked at Sai, "You said he nearly drowned?"

The boy nodded.

"When you brought him up and got him to breath again, did he cough up any water?"

Sora continued the cpr, counting quietly to herself.

"He coughed up a little, but not much."

Sora looked up as she continued pressing on his chest. "Then all the water must not be out!"

Both women looked at Kakashi, but his breathing hadn't returned.

"Look out." Sakura kneeled next to her old sensei and brought both fists down hard on his chest.

Nothing.

She did it again.

Still nothing.

A tear escaped as she tried once more and this time Kakashi coughed hard. Sora rolled him onto his side quickly as he continued coughing up water. After the fit was over, his breathing was a little rattly, but it was a normal deep breath. A small sob escaped from Sora and she leaned on Kakashi's shoulder. Sakura looked up at her friends and smiled faintly. Naruto let out a sigh and returned the smile.

Kakashi felt something winding around his arm. The last thing he remembered was the water completely surrounding him and blacking out. He moved slightly and felt a somewhat soft something under him and warmth covering him. Opening his eyes slowly, he realized that the warmth was actually a blanket. He turned his head slightly and saw Sora wrapping his right arm completely in bandages. She was busy concentrating on her work so she didn't see his eyes open, but when she held his right hand to finish off the wrapping, he squeezed it gently and she looked up at him. It was the biggest smile he'd seen on her face when she realized he was awake. She tied off the bandage.

"Do you need something to drink?"

Kakashi winced a little, "No more water, please," he croaked out with a raw throat.

She laughed quietly. "I'll put some herbs in to make you feel better. Besides, your throat doesn't sound too good."

He sighed. "Whatever you say, doctor."

She hit his head gently as she walked out the room for the water and herbs. After a few minutes she returned with a slightly steaming cup. Kakashi started to sit up and she helped him up. His arms screamed at the movement, but he ignored it. Once he was settled she handed him the cup. The mixture smelled sweet.

"Sai's already told us how he found you," she said as he took a sip. It tasted sweet as well.

"Did you put honey in this?"

She nodded. "It'll help coat your throat better."

He took another sip and watched her through the corner of his eye. He could tell she had a lot to ask and that she was also trying to keep her emotions in check. His wrists started to throb from holding the cup up, so he set it on the night stand and leaned back against the wall. Sora still didn't look up.

"Sora-san, what's wrong?"

Her fists clenched. "It's just that you about died earlier. If it weren't for Sai and Sakura, you would be dead right now." A tear rolled down her cheek.

"But if it wasn't for you finding me in the first place, I wouldn't even be alive to begin with," he replied calmly.

The tears continued to fall. Kakashi leaned forward and wiped some away, and they soaked into the bandages on his hand. Sora grabbed his hand gently and leaned on the bed, hiding her face as she continued to cry.

"Sora-san," he said quietly as he reached out with his other hand and ran his fingers through her hair. "Please, don't cry. I'm here now, so there's nothing you should cry about."

Her crying had made him feel a little bad about being caught. He just wanted to do something, anything, to make those tears stop falling. Every time he moved his arm, the wounds screamed at him and made him feel even worse because he knew that was also why she was crying. Kakashi was feeling terrible for making her cry this much. He laid down on his side carefully, so as not to move his right hand from hers. When he was on his side, he shifted so his head was near hers and opened his left eye so he could see her better.

"Sora-san," he whispered. "Please stop crying."

She looked into his mismatched eyes, her purple eyes slightly red from the crying.

Kakashi reached out with his left hand and wiped away the tears that were on her cheeks. "I'm fine now, so please, no more tears."

She let out a shaky breath and said, "Ok," quietly.

Kakashi smiled slightly and his cheek twinged from the cuts, but he ignored that too. Sora closed her eyes and gripped his hand tighter.

* * *

eh, fluff **:shivers:** i didn't intend for this story to have a lot of fluff but this lil part came out of nowhere and i didn't think i'd have this story being this long either lmao

i've been wanting to put one of my poems in one of my stories so here's an old one i wrote a looooooong time ago

_The waves crash_

_The river purrs_

_The rain whispers_

_The streams sing_

_Their harmonic combination,_

_All say your name_

_  
How can I forget you,_

_When my world speaks of you_

_  
The glint of the sun on water,_

_I see your skin_

_The bend of a river,_

_I see your smile_

_The swish of the waves,_

_I hear your laughter_

_All point to you_

_  
How can I forget you,_

_When my world speaks of you_

_  
The hum of a stream,_

_Sings your song_

_The patter of rain,_

_Sheds your tears_

_The pool of water,_

_Reminds me of your gentleness_

_All talk of you_

_  
How can I forget you,_

_When my world speaks of you_

so what do u think of it??


	15. Chapter 15

i'm so glad a lot of u liked my poem XD doughnuts for all the readers because people liked my poem **:passes around boxes of doughnuts:**

the next update after this will be a lil more than a week because we're going on vacation this weekend and also our foreign exchange student is arriving this thursday so we'll go shopping for the needed school supplies when we return... not to mention school starts next week and my college classes the week after **:rolls eyes:**

yay i'm finally a beta reader... Mari Falcon asked me and one other person to beta read her story If Only for her XD

finally got a new laptop... my other was shooting craps so bad that i couldn't see the screen sometimes because the video card was goin bye bye... so i got a good one with 160 GB for memory... plenty of room for my writings and everything else lmao

hopefully i can type/write more on this story while we're on vacation (it's a 5 hour drive to where we're going Y-Y) but my mind has officially stopped on this story... i don't have any new ideas coming to me so i'm stuck Y-Y stupid writer's blocks

dis: me don't own...i can't even draw so how could i own naruto??

* * *

Gai and the other Konoha ninjas were standing outside near the tree line. The rain had stopped a few minutes ago and they took advantage and went outside to discuss something privately. Sora was inside wrapping up Kakashi's arms.

"I don't see why someone would try to end Kakashi-sensei's life," Naruto said quietly.

"I think we're getting too deep into this mess," Tenten said. "Our mission was to recover Kakashi. We've found him, so why don't we leave?"

"Then what about Naoya-kun and Sora-san? We can't just leave them here to possibly die," Naruto retorted.

Tenten looked down. "I know, but something doesn't feel right about all this stuff."

"I feel the same way Tenten-san," Sakura replied.

"There's definitely something that no one's seen going on between these villages. We know that much," Neji said changing the subject. "We know that they have access to ninjas, or at least our ways, and we know that both neighboring villages have been targeting this village. What we don't know is why this village and why Kakashi-sensei."

"Maybe Naoya-kun would know?" Naruto put in.

They all stood quietly, lost in their own thoughts.

"We can't ask Naoya-kun," a voice said.

They all looked up and saw Kakashi walking towards them, his arms completely wrapped.

"Should you be out of bed?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi shrugged. "They've taken Naoya-kun. I don't know where either."

"Do you know why someone would try to kill you?" Gai asked quietly.

"No, the only people who know of me being a ninja would be Sora-san, Kyoshiro-san, and Aikawa-san."

"Aikawa-san?" Naruto asked.

"Naoya-kun's grandmother," Kakashi replied.

"She wouldn't be the one that would've told someone, you don't think?" Lee asked.

"No. These people have a strong sense of honor, and besides, if word got out that Naoya was hanging out with ninja, then the village would turn against him and his grandma."

"Those villagers that are staying with Sora-san already know about us. We're going with the lie that she hired us to figure out why their village was attacked," Gai informed Kakashi.

"That makes things even more complicated. I was curious how they knew about you guys," Kakashi mumbled.

"What do you mean?" Gai asked.

Kakashi moved his right arm and stiffly rubbed his neck that was still a little numb and stiff. "One of those that had caught me mentioned that they found out I wasn't the only new ninja."

"Did you get a name?" Gai asked.

"Yes, all three of their names: Karina, Murai, and Asano."

"Karina? Did she have short, black hair?" Neji asked.

"Yeah, you know her?"

"No, but I ran into her near the river. She didn't seem the type to be able to take you down, Kakashi-sensei. And she also said she never saw you. She was nearly having a panic attack as she answered."

"That doesn't sound like the Karina that I was dealing with."

"It could've been an act," Lee put in.

"True," Kakashi agreed.

"Kakashi-sensei, is your neck all right?" Sakura asked.

"Huh? Why do you ask?"

"You've been holding your neck for almost the whole time we've been talking."

Kakashi realized that his right hand was still on the back of his neck and he was resting his head against it. "Oh, it's just a little stiff, that's all."

"Do you remember how that happened?" she continued.

"I think it was from the three needles that were buried in it for who knows how long."

"Needles?!" Naruto asked with shock.

"Yeah, that Asano kid uses them and these had a strong sleep poison on them. It nearly made me sick to my stomach."

"Let me take a look at the wounds," Sakura said moving forward.

Kakashi kneeled and bent his head forward so the girl could examine the wounds easily.

"I can't really tell much in this faint light," she pressed on the edges of the holes and Kakashi felt a little tingle from it, "but they seem deep."

"I don't think it's normal to feel tingling when you pressed on the edges," he said with his head still down.

"We need to get back inside the hut so I can get a better look at these," Sakura said sternly.

Kakashi got up and everyone followed the kunoichi back to the house. When they got inside, Sakura moved a chair towards the fire and motioned for Kakashi to sit in it. He obliged and the villagers that were in the room moved to the side to give them room, yet continued to watch curiously. Sakura leaned near her sensei's neck and looked closely at the three holes. They were purple, almost black, around the edges and some blood was starting to seep out of the scabbed over holes from Kakashi moving his neck a lot.

"Someone please get Sora-san for me," she said without looking away from the wounds.

"No need, I'm already here," Sora answered coming out of her bedroom. "What's up?"

Sakura stepped away from Kakashi's neck and motioned Sora to take a look. The woman did and her face crinkled. "These are deep, but they shouldn't be almost black from that, and the purple's almost spread completely over the entire back of the neck."

Sora touched the top of the scabs and a large dose of tingling shot into his neck and Kakashi went lightheaded. He instantly placed his head in his hand as his vision went black for a second.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"I'm alright, just got a dose of lightheadness from Sora-san touching the scabs."

"What?" Sakura stepped near Sora and looked at the wounds. She touched the scabs.

Another dose of lightheadedness. "Please, stop touching the scabs or I might pass out again."

Sora and Sakura stepped back.

"I don't think all the poison is out or there could've been another kind of poison on the needles as well as the sleeping one," Sora said. "If that's true then I have no way of getting the poison out. It's too far into his body. Can you think of anything to get it out?" she looked at Sakura.

Sakura looked at Kakashi's neck. "How long ago did the needles hit you, Kakashi-sensei?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, which was getting number. "About high noon."

The women looked at each other.

Sakura continued, "If they hit you around high noon and your neck is already halfway purple, then that must not be the sleeping poison. It has to be another kind meant to kill."

"I have no herbs to remove poison and since I don't know what kind of poison it is, I can't really do much. Is there anything up your sleeves?" She looked at Sakura.

The pink haired girl looked at Neji. "Your byakugan should use a little more than what I use to get poison out, if you look the full radius of your range, right?"

Neji thought for a moment then nodded, "My byakugan requires a lot of chakra to enhance the seeing range over a long distance, yet your technique is more centered, you should be fine, but only for a minute or in a small work area." He dug the sapphire out of his back pouch and handed it to Sakura.

She felt the tug on her chakra when the small jewel hit her palm.

"I'm not sure I can get most of the poison out if it was hard for both you and Neji-san to control your chakra for a little bit with this thing," Sakura told her sensei as she stood directly behind him.

"Just do what you can, and don't push yourself too hard," Kakashi sincerely replied.

Sakura took a deep breath and placed her hands on either side of Kakashi's neck and called her chakra up. It was hard just getting half the required amount to get near her hand. As she tried to call up the required amount to get practically all the poison that remained in her sensei's neck out, the jewel started to dim dangerously. Glancing at it balanced between two of her knuckles, Sakura started to worry.

I need to get most of this poison out, but if this chakra really does come from the jewel and it disappears before I get the poison out of the body, the movement of the venom could kill Kakashi-sensei, she thought worriedly to herself.

I'm just going to have to try.

Sakura had only a little more than ¾ called up, but because of the jewel dimming, she sent what she had gathered in her left hand through Kakashi's neck, seeking out the poison. When she found quite a bit of it, mainly around the three wounds, the jewel flickered.

"No," she said under her breath then in a louder voice, "Sora-san, a bowl, now!"

She surrounded the poison with the chakra and quickly sent it to her right hand on the other side of Kakashi's neck. As she pulled her right hand away from the neck with the chakra gathered around the outside of her palm, the jewel's light went out.

"Shit!" Sakura spat out.

* * *

hehehe cliffie hehehe

o if u read any of my other fanfics... What If is the weirdest idea that has ever come to my mind and the damn bunny was patiently stubborn so finally i typed on it **:glares at bunny:** but all my "in-progress" stories will be updated a week apart from now on...unless i hit the dead end then the update won't come for a while lmao but i still have enough on this for about 1 more chappie (do i keep sayin that?? o well it's the truth lol)

if u have any guesses as to what might happen later on in this story or jus minor suggestions or jus something u think would be funny...pm me or say it in a review and i might use them and give credit all to u...be warned the ideas might be tweaked but credit will still go to u **:grins: **and don't be afraid to send ur ideas... i don't bite lol


	16. Chapter 16

oooooooooookkkkkkkkkkk srry for the ever long wait...between vacation...writer's block...and school starting up with the mountains of homework that was soooo freakin much that i couldn't even get on the internet for 15 minutes...and on top of it all i work on teh weekends...yea busy...i dont' have time to type on teh fanfics but whenever i get the chance i'm thinkin on the writer's blocks lmao...and yes i got a small idea for this one...but i can't find time type on it Y-Y...but if ya don't believe me on teh homework thing...i'll gladly type out the ever long list of all teh stuff i have to do daily...and right now i'm procrastinating from writing an english report, readin a short story, memorizing vocab, read ch. 3 of my history book, and writing a response paper...and that's jus a small amount of work compared to what it normally is **:rolls eyes:** o well...at least today i could do nuthing...and sadly tomorrow i work all day Y-Y at least it's nice out lol

dis: i don't have time to work on fanfics so i don't i'd have any chance at owning naruto

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The little poison that she had pulled out fell and was about to hit the floor, when a bowl caught most of it. Kakashi slumped forward with his face back in his hand, his breathing a little shallow.

"Sensei?!" Sakura yelled and grabbed his shoulders.

"I'm fine, just really lightheaded," he gasped with his eyes closed.

"I'm sorry, sensei," tears were threatening to spill out of Sakura's eyes, "I was only able to get half of the poison I found, out, and it's dangerous to move venom to a new location in the body."

She looked down at Sora who was crouching over the bowl that held little of the poison.

"I don't recognize this poison," Sora said mostly to herself.

Sakura grabbed the bowl and held it in the firelight. The venom was thick and purple. As she tipped the bowl, the little amount that was there hesitantly moved with the slope of the bowl. Looking quickly back at Kakashi's neck she noticed that the purple on the back was halfway gone, except for a new spot on the right side where some of the thick liquid had stopped when the chakra disappeared.

"That must be it," she whispered.

Walking back over to Kakashi's neck she pressed on the spots that were no longer tinted with purple. When she removed her finger the skin turned from the white to the red like it should when pressure is applied then taken off. She then pressed upon a purple area and removed her finger. It was white and stayed white.

"That's it! The reason you're going lightheaded is because this liquid is blocking the veins and arteries in this part of your neck."

"If that's true, then why don't we just cut a wound in the purple area and squeeze this stuff out?" Naruto stated.

"No, we don't know if that stuff is still poison or not and besides, Kakashi doesn't need any more pressure applied to the vessels going to the brain," Sora answered.

"That, and this stuff doesn't flow very well in this bowl, then I doubt it's going fast and easily in the veins," Sakura added.

"Sakura-san, why aren't you exhausted?"

She looked up at Neji. "What?"

"Why aren't you exhausted from straining your chakra through that jewel?" he asked.

Sakura looked back down at the sapphire that was now in the palm of her hand. It looked like a normal jewel now and there wasn't that tug on the chakra inside of her. Also, her chakra stores that she could feel had the same amount as before she moved the venom.

"Why isn't it glowing?" Naruto asked.

Sakura shook her head. "And I still have the same amount of chakra as before."

"Then when we use it, it is the chakra the jewel has stored that we use, not our own," Lee stated.

"But, that still doesn't explain why it's not glowing," Naruto pouted.

"Because it's all gone," Sai said quietly.

All the ninja (including Kakashi, barely) looked at Sai.

"Say what again?" Naruto asked.

"Think of the jewel as the hair on an ink brush. When the brush is in the well of ink, it will never run out of the liquid in the hair and the brush will be used over and over. If a brush runs out of the hair for the ink, or in this case chakra, to rest in then it can't replenish its ink stores and it no longer works."

Naruto still stared at Sai in confusion, but the others understood it perfectly.

"It's like this, Naruto," Sakura said at his still confused look, "once the jewel runs out of chakra then it's no longer capable of taking our chakra to replenish itself and we can no longer use it to do any jutsus."

"Oh, why didn't you say so from the start?"

All the ninjas (excluding Naruto) rolled their eyes.

"I'm going to see what this is made up of and possibly come up with some kind of antidote or at least a thinner," Sakura said.

"I'll help," Sora followed her over to the table.

Kakashi slouched down in the chair and closed his eyes, leaning his head on his hand.

"Are you all right, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked quietly.

"I'm fine," he answered without looking up, "I'm just a little tired, that's all."

"Oh, ok." Naruto walked quietly towards the door and the others followed him, taking a last glance at the jounin before leaving the house.

The villagers all sat in a corner and along the two walls connected to that corner as well. They had watched the whole charade. Many couldn't believe what the pink haired one was doing when they saw the purple poison just float out of the white haired man's neck. Nearly all of them believed these "ninjas" were more than they said and if it weren't for Kakashi sitting nearby walking the line between death and life, they would've thought that these strangers couldn't be killed.

Naruto and the others were outside again. The blonde felt one of the tree trunks with the palm of his hand. It wasn't that damp so he turned around and leaned against it. Even though it felt like everything had happened over a period of days, it had only been a few minutes since Kakashi woke up.

"I thought Kakashi-sensei was supposed to be some genius ninja when he was younger than us. Why is everything happening to him now?" Naruto grumbled.

"We were unprepared for this strange valley with no chakra allowance, so genius or not, everything can and possibly will happen. Even to those like my rival," Gai answered.

"But why is it only him?" Naruto continued.

"We haven't gotten involved in anything to put us in any danger," Neji replied.

"All we have really been doing since we got here is sit around and watch Kakashi-sensei get torn up," Lee added.

"All the more reason to get Kakashi-sensei out of here like our mission was to begin with," Tenten said stubbornly.

Naruto was pissed. "What is it with you and this mission?! What do you have against these people?!"

She stared calmly back at him. "I've nothing against these people, but unless you want to see your sensei die right in front of you, we'd better leave soon."

"But these people need our help!"

"And Kakashi-sensei just about died from barely getting involved, and he might die here anytime soon if a thinner isn't found in time," she shot back.

Gai stepped between the fuming teens. "Calm down now. Both of you are right. These people cannot handle this situation on their own and Kakashi-san nearly died from helping just a little bit. What you both need to realize is that Kakashi was the only one of us really helping and that the situation will most likely get trickier if we dig deeper."

Naruto and Tenten looked away from the others. Gai's last statement had been directed at both of their arguments and both parts of that statement were true, giving them no grounds to argue on.

"What we should do is ask Kakashi-san on what he wishes to do," Sai said.

"That is an excellent idea, however, right now he needs to rest so no more pressure will be put on his veins in his neck. In the meantime we could do some snooping of our own," Gai stated.

"But we don't know enough of what's going on, yet Kakashi-sensei does. Can't we just ask him?" Naruto asked.

Gai looked at the boy then sighed. "I guess your youthfulness found something mine didn't. We can ask, but it'd be best if the villagers didn't hear some of what is said, just in case there is a rat amongst them."

Naruto smiled triumphantly and headed back towards the house with the others slowly following behind.

When he opened the door, he looked right at his sensei. The man's eyes were closed. Naruto walked quietly over to the man and raised his hand to poke the jounin's right shoulder.

"What, Naruto."

The villagers jumped when Kakashi had spoken. They could've swore that the man was asleep and when the blonde crept over and didn't even touch him, he knew who it was.

"Can we ask what happened now?" the boy answered.

Kakashi looked up with his right eye. "What do you mean?"

Gai and the others were inside now as well.

The green beast spoke up, "We need to know what's been going on, and what happened to you since you fell over the cliff."

Kakashi sighed and slowly stood up, but he still got a small dose of lightheadedness. Naruto saw his small wobble and instantly grabbed his sensei's bandaged arm out of reflex. Kakashi smiled faintly at the teenager and leaned slightly on Naruto as they walked to the spare room.

When the door shut behind them, Sora looked over at Sakura, "Don't you want to find out too?"

"Yes, but this is more important. I can always find out what I missed from Gai-sensei."

They went back to figuring out what the thick liquid was made from.

They all sat or stood in the room, all listening quietly to Kakashi telling of what happened. He left out the boring parts like when he helped Sora with a wounded person or when he had nothing to do, but when it came to Naoya's part of the story, he didn't leave out any detail. A few times he was interrupted with a question, but they let him continue. By the time he was done, rain had been pouring down for a good 30 minutes.

"So, basically, some of the townsmen here have been smuggling goods to the other villages to help quell any attacks and Naoya's supposedly stumbled upon a secret, yet he hasn't, but they don't believe it and are still after him and they possibly caught him, and these villages continue to attack each other for some unknown reason. Did I miss anything?" Naruto asked after Kakashi had ended.

"Just that the other villages have access to ninjas and that some one knows of Kakashi-sans identity and tried to kill him," Sai put in.

"Yet the only other people who know he's a ninja asides from Sora-san are Kyoshiro-san and who again?" Gai asked.

"Aikawa-san," Kakashi answered.

"I think we should go visit Kyo-san and Aikawa-san," Naruto stated.

"I don't know right off where Kyoshiro-san's residing, but we could visit Aikawa-san's house as soon as possible tomorrow," Kakashi said.

"Why don't we have Sora-san show us where he lives? I'm sure she would know," Naruto asked.

"No, she needs to stay here where the villagers can keep an eye on her and also so she can be found quicker if another attack comes," Kakashi replied.

"What do you mean "keep an eye on her"?" Naruto asked.

"She's not fully trusted to begin with and since they've found out that she's been dealing with us ninjas behind their backs, their trust has diminished even more. But if she stays where they can plainly see her, that'll allow her a small chance to build their trust back up, even if it's a little bit," Kakashi answered.

"Oh, but then us talking privately in this room isn't really helping," the blonde pointed out.

"That's unavoidable, this information is best kept away from the villagers as much as possible," Kakashi said.

Naoya couldn't see anything. He had been blindfolded and hands bound ever since Kakashi had collapsed.

Kakashi's a ninja though, he thought to himself. He shouldn't have been defeated that easily.

The image of the 3 large needles sticking out from the man's neck appeared before his eyes for the millionth time that day. Two strong hands grabbed his arms painfully again and began dragging him backwards once more. His feet dragging along the ground was annoying, but the vibration going through his right foot was making his broken shin scream. Naoya lifted the right leg off the ground as whoever it was, kept dragging him. After a while though, his leg ached from being held up so the boy crossed his right over his left. The pressure on the bones hurt, but only on the front part of his lower leg. Naoya figured the second, back bone in his shin was still in one piece.

Soon the dragging stopped and he was brought to his feet. Naoya instantly bent his right knee so he didn't automatically put weight on the broken leg and collapse in front of anybody around. He stood balancing precariously on one foot. More mumbling came from a little ways away. It stopped and a door could be heard opening. The strong grip came back on his arms and he was led this time. He hopped clumsily forward. Laughter came from behind him and a few to his sides. Blush started to creep onto his face, but he remained as tall as his hopping body would allow. The laughter instantly dulled to a muffle and Naoya assumed he passed through the door. A faint click of the closing door confirmed it.

"Take off the blindfold," a male voice said.

Thick fingers grabbed part of the material and roughly pulled it off his head. Naoya stood there blinking slightly in the light. Even though it was merely candlelight, there were many lit, especially behind a weird paper like wall. Naoya saw a sitting figure outlined behind it.

"Who are you? What did you do to Kakashi?"

Laughter came from the figure behind the paper. "Kakashi-san is resting peacefully. As for me, I'm just a mere investor."

Naoya squinted towards the paper wall/door. "Why does your voice sound familiar? Do I know you?"

The man laughed again. "We have met before. Now, down to business. Do you know why I had you brought here?"

Naoya shook his head then realized the person probably didn't see it. "No, I don't."

"I'm missing something-."

"Whatever it is, I didn't steal it!" Naoya said frantically.

The man laughed once again. "A guilty mind makes a fast mouth." He continued laughing.

When his laughter started to subside he continued, "No, you didn't steal it, but someone you knew did. I'm looking for a scroll. Have you seen one?"

"Yeah, Kakashi showed me some of his."

"No, not those scrolls. I'm talking one that was made in this valley."

Naoya looked up, to his right. "Nope, can't remember any."

"Really? That's too bad. I'll have my escort take you to a nice room. Just call for me when you do remember, ok?"

Before Naoya could answer the blindfold was back over his eyes and strong hands were dragging him again.

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hey long time no watchy the anime naruto lmao...yup more procrastination lmao...and it'll be a lil while before updating...stupid homework **:glares:** heeeeeey it's ep. 101 of naruto yessssss lmao


	17. Chapter 17

oopsies...it went over a month without updates...srry bout that...tests and work and all lol...i'm updating this while i'm in school (yes i brought my laptop to school lmao) hey it gets me to updating...although What If will have to wait on updates for a lil bit longer cuz i have to type on this...there is no more typings on this after th last word of the story in this update...it suxs huh? i still have 30 min of school left so i'm goin to type on this...well try to lmao...i do have people talkin to me every now and then but o freakin well lmao...and on ch. 372 of naruto...a friend of mine says Pain's body is like a Deidara with piercings...i say a better lookin Deidara with piercings lmao

o and fyi...today was pirate day at my high school...and yes i did dress out as a pirate...yarrrr roflmao (yes i even had the hook hand and captain's hat...and a monkey roflmao)

dis: sigh too busy...barely had time to download the naruto chapters there for a while Y-Y

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"A scroll?" Naruto repeated.

Mrs. Aikawa nodded. Only Sakura and Naruto were in Mrs. Aikawa's house. Kakashi and the others were waiting outside nearby. It was on a request by Kakashi that he don't see her again and that those two go in saying that they were friends of Naoya's and were wondering where he went. Every one understood and went along with what he asked. Sakura had been informed that morning by Gai and the others of what had happened to Kakashi so far.

She and Sora had stayed up late and found a possible thinner, so Kakashi was trying it out now. Sadly, for Kakashi, it had to be injected into the same area as the liquid and he didn't really like the idea of another needle going into his neck. But, the lightheadedness was going away and Kakashi could stand up without blacking out now.

Sakura continued to remember Kakashi's expression when he saw the needle, but was brought back to reality when Mrs. Aikawa continued.

"Yes, his parents were researching a special mineral that is only found in this valley. They were writing it all down in a scroll from the outside."

"So, this attack was meant to find that scroll?" Sakura asked.

The old lady shook her head. "I believe they wanted Naoya, since he is his parents' son and should know about the whereabouts of the scroll, but, thankfully, they stopped their research as he got older, so I don't think he knows about it."

"Why do you say "thankfully"?" Sakura asked.

"That research of theirs was getting them attention from outside the valley by those demons," the old lady replied angrily.

" "Demons"? You mean ninjas?" Naruto asked.

"Yes! Mess with one of them and you've got nothing but trouble for the rest of your life. I told them that, but they didn't listen, until their son was almost killed as they ran from a group of those fiends. That's when they stopped that cursed research and settled back down here. Then they go and get themselves killed and I'm landed with a boy that follows their footsteps," she shook her head in irritation.

Sakura and Naruto looked at each other and knew that she was talking about the night that their sensei had protected Naoya and Mrs. Aikawa.

"So, do you know where Naoya" Naruto almost added –kun on the end, "is right now?"

Mrs. Aikawa didn't notice the pause. "No, that boy has been gone since that attack on the village. I assumed he was helping out, but normally he'd come and check up on me by now."

"Do you think one of those "demons" that was chasing his parents could've came back and caught Naoya?" Sakura asked.

Sadness filled the old lady's eyes. "I'd hope against all hope that one didn't, but it wasn't too long ago one of those demons brought bloodshed to my house, so I wouldn't doubt it if one did come back and try to capture that boy."

"But, Naoya doesn't know where that scroll was hidden, so why would they come after him?" Naruto asked, pretending to play dumb. He was hoping that they would be able to pry the location of the scroll out of the old lady's mouth.

"They don't know that he doesn't know. I'm the only one that does know its location and I'm not telling you either."

"That's all right, Mrs. Aikawa," Sakura answered. "We don't want to know where it is because then we'll possibly be caught too. We were just wondering if you had heard from Naoya in a while. We're sorry for bothering you today."

"That's ok, sweetie, and it's a good thing you're staying away from that scroll. It brings nothing but bad luck to the person. By the way, have any of you heard from Sora?"

Both teens nodded.

"We've been helping her with errands and whatever else she needs done," Naruto added.

Mrs. Aikawa smiled. "It's good you young ones help out us older folks. Please tell Sora hi for me when you see her again."

"We will," Sakura replied smiling.

"Have a nice day," Mrs. Aikawa answered back as the two left the house.

They didn't relax when they were outside until they were back with the others.

"Well?" Kakashi asked.

"We're not sure if she was the one who spilled it on Kakashi-sensei's identity, but we did find something out about Naoya's parents," Naruto answered.

"They were researching some kind of mineral a long time ago that Aikawa-san said was only found in this valley. She also said that they were getting the attention from ninja outside this valley, but continued their work until Naoya was almost killed while ninja attacked them for their findings," Sakura explained.

"Why would ninja attack a small family for research info?" Tenten asked.

Sakura shook her head. "We weren't able to find out much about it, but they were writing their info in a scroll and that after the attack, they stopped researching and settled down here. Naoya, hopefully, doesn't know about this scroll, but Aikawa-san does and she knows the location of it," Sakura said the last part quietly in case of eavesdroppers.

"But we weren't able to get the location out of her," Naruto whispered as well.

"At least the enemy, whoever they are, don't know right off about Naoya not knowing. But Aikawa-san will need to be moved, or at least guarded, in case someone comes here for her," Kakashi-said.

"Why should we guard her after what she called you?" Naruto said angrily.

Kakashi smiled sadly, "She's all Naoya has left."

And I'm kind of used to the names, Kakashi added to himself.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee said jumping from branch to branch towards them.

The group looked towards the young nin as he came closer.

Lee jumped down and instantly started talking, "The village leader and council are at Sora's wanting to talk to Kakashi-sensei."

They all looked at Kakashi.

The white haired man looked at Gai, "I think it would be best if we all showed ourselves to this leader so he at least knows our faces."

Gai nodded in agreement.

"Mr. Kanzaka, why are you and the elders wanting to speak to Kakashi?" Sora asked for the millionth time.

A man that was in his 50's sighed deeply. "Sora, for the last time, we are not going to tell you."

Sora bit her lip. These men were pissing her off. They came barging in and demanding to see Kakashi and they wouldn't tell her why. She just hoped that they weren't going to try and harm him in any way since he was a ninja.

"Who are you?!" one of the outside guards shouted.

Sora whipped around to see the Konoha ninjas standing in the doorway looking, with some amusement, at the 4 men that had surrounded them.

"Is one of you Kakashi Hatake?" Mr. Kanzaka asked.

"That would be me," Kakashi replied looking right at the man.

"Who are those around you?" a council member asked.

"My comrades from our village."

"Why are they here?" the same council member asked.

Gai stepped forward. "My name is Maito Gai and my team and I were sent here in search of Kakashi after he disappeared from a mission."

"As if-." The village leader cut him off with a motion of his hand.

"Please excuse Saito's attitude. Like many, he lost a loved one in the massacre."

"We understand," Kakashi replied quietly.

"ch." Saito turned his back on the ninja in anger.

The leader glanced at him then turned back to the shinobi. "I heard that you've been staying with Ms. Sora for a while, but I had not heard of your friends."

"They arrived not too long ago," Kakashi replied.

"May I ask your reason for being in our valley?" Mr. Kanzaka continued.

"My team and I were returning from a mission that was near your mountains when we were attacked. We easily defeated them, but the ground gave way and I had no chance of escaping from the river. I lost consciousness in the rapids and when I woke up, I was in Sora-san's house with my wounds taken care of."

Kanzaka nodded. "Sora has always taken care of any wounded and asked questions later, but why are your comrades here if you fell into the river alone?"

"They came in search of either me or my body if I had died in the river."

Kanzaka nodded again. "My grandfather told me about your ways outside the valley and I see they were true, but how do we know you didn't attack our village?"

"We have no reason for attacking a village," Kakashi replied.

"And how can we believe that?" Saito spat as he turned back around.

Mr. Kanzaka glanced at Saito but didn't reprimand him. "I have to agree with him. We cannot believe something that cannot be proven so, we will have to arrest you until it can be proven that you are not the ones that attacked us."

"What?!" Naruto shouted.

Kakashi silenced him then looked at Gai. They held eye contact for a second then the green beast just shrugged.

Kakashi turned back to the leader and the council members in the room. "We agree to these terms, but, once it is proven that we weren't the ones that attacked you, you must release us immediately."

Kanzaka nodded solemnly. "Agreed. Thank you for understanding and your cooperation."

He motioned and the 4 outside and 2 others inside moved forward and tied all the ninjas arms behind their back and removed them of all their weapons (which they almost needed 2 bags for because of Tenten).

Sora's anger finally got the better of her, "Mr. Kanzaka please-."

"Sora-san," Kakashi interrupted. "We'll be fine."

Sora looked in shock at him then finally stepped back. Kanzaka then sighed and started towards the village with the council members behind them. The 6 guards forced the ninjas forward. All the teenage shinobi, except for the emotionless Sai and stoic Neji, had anger written on their faces. Kakashi saw a flash of silver and looked to his left. Meesha was silently following them in the tree line; the rare patch of sunlight that he went through made his fur glow for a second.

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o what now...they got arrested...weren't expectin that lil twist now were ya roflmao...yes i'm evil...25 min left of school lmao


	18. Chapter 18

hey, guess what...an UPDATE!! XD lmao...yea...sorry bout the ever long wait **:flinches away from reader's glares: **eh hehehe my bad lol...no really...i haven't had time to even read a book **:cries:** japanese class is going good for me...early world history...well lets jus say i wanna destroy taht class lmao...and i have an ecology project due in about 3 weeks that's worth 300 points...and i haven't even started on it roflmao...and i have ACTs this saturday **:cries:** on top of working all day every sunday all this month **:sigh:**

i got the idea for this chappie while i was mucking the stalls at work (yes i work at a horse ranch...and there's a clydesdale there and she's such a lovey and her shoulder is about 6 feet tall...which is way over my head...and she's still growing...but she's such a lovey) and to put it simply...a lone crow cawing...no other bird...is waht gave me the idea for this roflmao...so i called up mom and begged her to bring me my comp and i typed this up over lunch lmao...now c'mon...u gotta luv me for that lmao j/k j/k

o i kept gettin alerts taht people have favd this story or added it to their alert list...and i haven't even updated in 2 months...i was completely shocked...soooooo thanks to all y'all who did that!! lol

dis: seriously...i don't even want to say it cuz i think u get the pic...i have NO freakin time to even type on a fanfic (except for lunch break at work) so i HIGHLY doubt i could own naruto...if i did...man i'd be rich even with all the pirating of chapters lmao

o...word of wisdom...u might wanna go back and reread a chappie or two...jus to refresh ur memory lol

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"My lord, the Konoha ninjas have been captured and are held in that town," Seita reported.

The man behind the paper wall/door leaned forward. "Good. We'll be able to use them easily from there. Are the men in place?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Good. Go tell your boy its his turn to act, and tell him he better not mess up this time."

"Yes, my lord." Seita left quickly. The plan was to be put into place in the middle of the night and it was already 10 p.m.

They were put in the same cell, which made no sense to the younger generation, but Kakashi and Gai just sat back quietly. The only light was a faint hue from a nearby torch coming from the small window in the door. Nearly everyone was in asleep except for Kakashi. He sat the farthest from the group in a corner. None of the others questioned why, but his real reason was to hide the numbness and lightheadedness coming back. Sakura had tried to get their guards to allow her to give Kakashi another dose, but they just scoffed at the idea of helping a ninja.

Kakashi looked down at the bandages on his arms. They were stained with blood in some spots along the inside. The bandages hadn't been changed since that morning. When he looked up, he noticed that nearly everyone was asleep. Only Sai and Gai were dozing lightly. He let out a small sigh and tipped his head back slowly and a little painfully. Sakura had made an incession in his neck not long after they were placed in this cell. She was able to drain a little bit of the purplish liquid, but he was still light headed at times.

The quiet scoff of footsteps coming closer woke everyone up. It was just the normal routine guard checking on the cells, but they still tensed up. After his round was done he retreated back to the little room at the top of the stairs.

"Man," Naruto complained, "why do they have to hold us like this?"

"It's only for a little while, Naruto, and it's to make sure that any more attacks aren't possibly caused by us," Kakashi answered. "As long as we stay here," a pause to catch his breath so as to not go lightheaded again "and another attack comes, they have no reason to doubt that we attacked the villagers."

"I know, but it still sucks," Naruto mumbled, settling back down to catch some more z's.

"Is there anything else I can get you Mrs. Aikawa," the teenage girl asked.

Aikawa looked up from her sewing. "No dear, thank you for all your help. I just wish I knew where that boy of mine got off to."

The girl smiled. "He probably chased after those attackers and got lost."

Aikawa smiled and looked out her dark window. "I only hope that's true."

"Well, if there's nothing else I can do I guess…"

Aikawa zoned out, staring out her window, until a quick movement outside caught her eye.

It's just as I feared, she thought herself.

A hand grabbed her shoulder and she jumped.

"Oh, I'm sorry to scare you, Mrs. Aikawa."

"It's ok dear, I was just thinking to myself. I must have completely zoned out," she smiled.

The girl smiled back. "I guess I'll leave now."

"Oh, one moment."

The girl turned back around.

"Could you deliver a message for me?"

The girl smiled sweetly, "Sure."

_Caw, caw, caw._

Sora jumped as the crow flew off screaming its displeasure. "Stupid bird," she mumbled. "It's darker than all get out tonight and you have to go and scare the shit out of me."

She continued walking. Her mood had been ruined since the others' arrest earlier that day.

"It wasn't them who attacked the village, so why did they arrest them? And why the hell did Kakashi interrupt me?"

Fuming she kicked at a bush and walked on. Leaves being stepped on behind her made her pause and swing around, holding her lantern higher. The leaves continued to crunch as whatever it was, was coming closer.

It's not trying to hide itself, she thought. Nor is it trying to be quick at where it's going.

Stepping quietly, Sora hid behind a tree and lowered her flame and covered the lantern with her cloak. Slowly, her eyes adjusted to the darkness. A faint light could be seen farther down the trail. It bobbed patiently closer. Sora remained behind the tree. The crunching leaves became louder. A howl erupted in another part of the forest. The lantern stopped and swung around fast. Whoever it was, was scared by the howl. Sora waited as the lantern and its owner started walking again. It was still in the same direction. When she could see a faint outline of the person she stepped out into the middle of the path and uncovered her lantern.

"State your business," she said deeply.

The other lantern stopped. "I'm delivering a message."

Another howl, this one higher and closer towards town.

That one didn't sound like a wolf, Sora thought. Out loud she said: "Who's the message for?"

"I've been asked by Mrs. Aikawa to deliver it to Sora."

Sora relaxed and raised the wick on her lantern, making it burn brighter. The other, younger girl smiled in relief when she realized who it was she was talking to.

"Sora, I didn't realize it was you."

Sora smiled, "I was just being careful. Is Mrs. Aikawa all right?"

"Yes, I just got done visiting her and she asked me to give this to you." She held out a letter.

Sora took it as another howl, high-pitched, came from nearby. Sora stared in that direction.

"There shouldn't be wolves at this time of the year," the other girl said in quiet fear.

"No, there shouldn't," Sora smiled back at the girl. "There's probably not enough game up in the mountains. Don't worry about it and go back to town."

The girl smiled and turned around. Sora watched her go for a minute then opened the letter quickly.

Sora,

I fear my time is soon, and it's most likely not going to be peaceful like I hoped. Please come quickly for there is something I wish you to know. It might help your ninja friends, even though I don't want anything to do with them. If you can't come tonight, I leave this to you:

Outsiders seek me for my knowledge. Blood soaks my sides. Hidden, I'm safe. Found, and the valley is gone. My eyes stare up at the night sky through Mother's yawning face. I'm surrounded by those I keep knowledge of. Find me before They do. No more blood for my sides, please.

Sora stared down at the paper. "What the hell is she going on about?" she mumbled.

Choruses of out of tune howls picked up all around. When they fell silent, the crow's horrid song sounded through the silent forest. Orange light flew up from the forest and flew in the direction of the village. When they disappeared she started to hear cries from the town.

"Oh no." Sora took off for the small town.

Screams woke everyone in the cell. Kakashi got up and looked out the window. Fire glowed on rooftops of nearby buildings. People were running towards them to try and help put them out. After a few minutes, no one was running by, but shouts could be heard from the area of the fire as it spread

"Why is this place attacked so much?" Sakura murmured.

* * *

man i'm jus adding on to this huh?? lol...and may i ask...do the authors on here have like extra hours in teh day to type on fanfics?? i have 30 new chapters to read on fanfics...and i have no freakin time to do it!! sooo u authors that secretly kno how to add hours to the day and still get some sleep...tell me your secret!! j/k lol i really don't wanna kno...i'll jus sadly make u readers of my stories suffer lmao

o i finished In a Cat's Body...like a month ago i think...check that out...many luvd it...and it's completed so u don't have to sit and grumble about no updates lmao


	19. Chapter 19

ooooo yea...today has been a fruitful day for my fanfics...i finished What If and that strange threeshot i wrote a year ago when i was in a gloomy mood...no i do NOT advise u to read it...trust me...it's weird...and i've gotten a grand total of 8 pages typed on this story (although i'm only posting 5) and my ideas are still coming...gotta luv x-mas break XD...i hope to finish typing on this story before jan. 22 cuz that's when my college starts up again TT-TT...but u kno how i am with those freakin writer's blocks lmao

i got me a new stereo for x-mas XDD and it has good bass too -drools- although i haven't turned it up a lot cuz dad's home but i will on a day he's not home -evil laugh-

dis: -sigh- santa didn't bring me the ownership of at least one naruto character TT-TT

* * *

"My lord?" Seita said, kneeling in front of the paper wall/door.

"Yes?" came the reply.

"The first part of the plan has been a complete success."

"Good, any signs of my son?"

"No, my lord."

The sound of ceramic breaking came from the other side of the wall.

"My lord?"

"It seems he has finally turned traitor."

Meesha sat in the shadows, watching the little window that was at ground level. At the moment, Kakashi's face was barely seen in it. The sounds of the fire were ringing all around the wolf. A faint shadow moved quickly over to the door of the building the ninjas were held in. Meesha got up and slipped over near the doorway. The figure was that of a young boy. He had slender tools in his hand, and he was trying to pick open the lock quickly. The wolf saw the kid smile and pull open the door and glance over his shoulder. A small yip came from the boy and the next thing Meesha saw was 3 men slipping quietly through the door. The boy went in last, quickly shutting the door firmly behind him. Meesha jumped up onto the steps and placed his paws on the door handle. After a couple tries, the wolf was inside.

It was a large hallway with many rooms leading off it. The wolf took a deep breath. The strangers' scents were leading down towards the basement steps. He took off quietly. Any other dog and you would've heard its nails clicking on the wood, but Meesha remained quiet. The steps loomed quickly in front of him. He stopped and took a few whiffs. The intruders' smell was strong on the stairs. Meesha climbed carefully down the steps so as to not make any noise. He reached the landing and looked through the doorway into the first set of jail cells. There was nothing moving. Meesha turned and walked along the little hallway towards the other corner. The intruders' scents were strong behind the wall, as well as that of food and some other people. Stopping not far from the corner, Meesha closed his eyes and shook his leather collar, locating a particularly large jewel on the inside of it.

The oldest of the intruders was in the front. He was watching the door to the storage room. The guards were located in there. Some faint talking got louder as one of the guards came near the door. All four of the thieves flattened themselves on each side of the door, but no one came out. The oldest intruder gripped his kunai angrily. Their distraction they caused on the village would only last a little longer. They had to finish this, not only because it was a direct order from Him, but also because this was the boy's last chance since he screwed up last time.

He shifted and motioned to the other three that they were going to go to plan B: free the ninjas then kill the guards. The others nodded and they pealed themselves off the wall and froze. A teenager was standing there, in the middle of the hallway, smiling. All four of the thieves dropped into their fighting stances, kunai ready.

The tall boy just smiled even wider, revealing sharp canines. He chuckled then shouted "Guards, intruders!"

The door to the storage room burst open, shedding light on the four teenage thieves. They instantly attacked the three guards, taking them by surprise. The oldest of the group tried to slip away in order to free the captive ninjas, but was blocked by the tattletale teenager.

The eldest threw some kunai, but the tattle-tale simply dodge two, caught one and used that to block the shuriken that were thrown right after the kunai. The other reached into a back pouch and pulled out a couple black orbs, throwing them down hard on the ground. A smoke cloud erupted. The tattletale coughed loudly as the smoke overpowered his nose. A foot connected with his gut, sending him flying into the wall. The force of his body stopping against the wall made all the air in his lungs to escape. He slumped down, panting and coughing. The thief ran by him. The tattletale stumbled to his feet and ran after the boy. He rounded the corner, gasping, and saw the boy fumbling with the keys in front of their cell.

A muffled bang from upstairs forced him to divert his attention away.

"Check downstairs, immediately!"

Both boys were looking up the steps.

The thief uttered a curse and started working faster with the keys. The tattletale smiled and felt along the leather that was around his neck. Out of the 12 large stones, 3 were already gone and a fourth was about to go too. He sighed and concentrated on a jewel that was still working, formed some hand seals, and disappeared in smoke.

The thief looked over in fear as coughing and some shouts came down the stairs.

Meesha jumped out of the smoke he created and stayed in the shadows.

A couple people emerged off the stairway and saw the boy in front of the cell door.

"Stop!"

The boy dropped the keys and resignedly held up his hands. Others poured off the stairs and raised weapons at the boy.

"Check on storage room and the prisoners," someone barked out.

"Ouch," Naruto grumbled when he heard those outside call them prisoners.

The commotion had brought all the ninjas to their feet and against the far wall. They saw the boy in front of their door move slowly away, hands still raised. Another head appeared in the door's window.

"All here, sir."

A grouchy "good" was the reply.

More talking reached their ears. "Sir, two guards wounded and unconscious and one's awake, but bleeding badly. We have these three captive. No others were found."

Footsteps were heard. The one that was still outside their door snapped to attention and moved aside. An older man's face appeared in the window. He had a large mustache and was pissed off.

"Friends of yours I presume?"

"No," Kakashi replied.

"Then what were they doing setting fire to our village, attacking our guards, and trying to free you?"

"We have no idea."

The old man continued glaring at them.

Naruto's fist was clenched. "It's the truth, old man. Why don't you believe us?"

He let out a soft snort. "Why should I trust a ninja's word?"

Naruto would've shouted at him, if it weren't for Gai's hand on his shoulder that told him to be quiet. The man in the window shot another glare at them then left the door.

"I want these intruders locked up in separate cells and two guards at their door and their window. Four guards at the door of the freaks as well as their window."

"Yes, sir!"

Naruto glared at the door then punched the cement wall. "I am not a freak!" he mumbled.

"Sieta!"

Seita turned around and looked at the open door. He was still in the room with his leader. The news they awaited about their plan finally arrived.

"Speak," Seita barked.

The messenger looked down. "The plan- Ranmaru-."

"Well?" the lord whispered behind his wall.

The messenger gulped. He didn't want to report this because his head might be taken, out of anger. "It failed, sir. Ranmaru and the others made it into the courthouse, but they were caught even before the ninjas were freed, sir."

Seita gulped and looked back at the paper door. All the candles behind it illuminated his leader, but he couldn't tell if the man was pissed or not.

"My lord?" Seita whispered.

"How many were killed in the flames?"

"The fire is still going. Half the town has been destroyed by it, but they're getting it under control. Although, we don't know how many has been killed yet."

Silence fell on the room. Seita sat there, uncomfortably. The messenger started to squirm under the pressure. With each passing second, he feared the chances of him losing his head grew.

"Very well," the leader finally said.

Both men squirmed. His voice didn't sound angry. It didn't have any emotion at all, which meant hell for them all.

"I will go back to the village again and do things myself if I have to."

"Yes, my lord," both men mumbled.

"I want burnt victims in these two large buildings now! Separated family members in those two large buildings over there!" Sora shouted above the din.

People moved about quickly, crying children were gently directed by mothers to the buildings for the separated families, those carrying the wounded went into the buildings prescribed by Sora.

"Ms. Sora!"

She looked over at a group of teenagers.

"What can we do?"

The group was mainly made up of 15 and 16 year old girls and boys.

"Half of the girls go to the separated families and comfort the kids, the other half go to the wounded and do what you can to save as many as you can. Half the boys, help carry wounded. Other half, we're going to need a lot of hot water to clean wounds. Move quickly now!"

The group scrambled.

"Ms. Sora."

Sora let out a frustrated growl and turned around. "What?!"

Mr. Kanzaka and a few others plus some soldiers looked back at her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Mr. Kanzaka! If I'd known it was you-."

"It's alright child. I know how you get when your disturbed while you're busy." Kanzaka smiled. "I just came to see how bad things were."

Sora sighed. "It seems like half the villagers are wounded or dead. Many kids are lost. I have the separated members in two other buildings so people can locate each other better."

"Do you have enough supplies to treat the wounded?"

Sora sighed again. "I may have enough between the other four healers and me, but there just isn't enough experienced healers. Half of the supplies came from the houses of the two who are helping the other villages. That leaves only three of us to treat close to 200 wounded."

"I see."

A thought occurred to Sora, but she bit her lip instead of saying it.

Kanzaka saw though. "What is it?"

"I know someone who could help us."

"Out of the question!"

Kanzaka looked back at the taller man behind him. "Mr. Yoshida?"

"Elder, she is talking about the ninjas we arrested this morning."

Kanzaka looked back at Sora. She bit her lip harder then nodded, looking down.

Kanzaka sighed. "Ms. Sora, they are prisoners. I cannot allow them to be freed at a time when we are weakest."

"Not all of them, just one of them."

The two men raised an eyebrow.

Sora continued, "One of the girls is a medic for their team and she helped me with the wounded villagers the other day when that massacre took place. She knew a lot on herbs and worked quickly at stopping people from bleeding to death. If it weren't for her, more people would've died."

Mr. Kanzaka looked at her. "Is it a dire situation that you need this girl's help?"

"If you want more villagers to survive, then yes. We're short handed as is and most of the women helping me in there are teenagers that haven't seen so much blood shed in their life as they've seen in the past week."

Mr. Kanzaka sighed. "Very well, but this girl will have 2 guards on her at all times, is that understood?"

Sora smiled, but Yoshida started to protest.

"Mr. Yoshida, as the second in command in this village, you will accompany Ms. Sora to the courthouse so she can safely retrieve this healer she speaks of. You will take 3 of these guards too."

Yoshida was going to continue protesting, but Kanzaka just turned around and walked off with all but three guards following him.

The man turned and glared at Sora. "If I have any problems with this ninja freak, it will fall on your head. Got it?"

Sora glared back but nodded.

Satisfied with her response, Yoshida started walking briskly towards the courthouse, the three guards following him.

* * *

o yea...give it up for a long chappie


	20. Chapter 20

oooookkkkk...new year's resolution...finish this freakin story!! lmao...updates will be getting longer and longer apart since teh third book of a series i'm reading has come out...high school starts in two days...college not long after TT-TT i still haven't figured out when my online college class starts...i hope i didn't miss the first week...when ya do ur kicked out of that class...which suxs

dis: me no own naruto...kishimoto owns naruto

* * *

"Sir!"

The ninjas looked up at the sound of the guards' voices.

"Who's in charge?"

"I am, sir. Hey, wait a minute! You can't go near that door!"

"Yes I can! You can even ask Mr. Yoshida."

Sora's face appeared in the door's window, along with another man's.

"Sora-san? What are you doing here?" Kakashi asked.

"No time to explain. Sakura, I need your help. Counting me, there's only three healers to tend to 200 wounded with more coming in."

Sakura stared in shock at Sora.

"Mr. Kanzaka agreed to let you go in order to help us, but you're to have two guards with you at all times," Sora continued.

A guard walked up to the door, the strange man stepped back, and the guard unlocked it. Sakura walked out and looked around. There were guards crowding the hallway and the tall, strange man was standing near the stairs.

He glared at the kunoichi. "Any attempt at escaping and you're friends well receive the punishment. Agreed?"

She glared right back at him. "I won't be trying to run away."

He snorted and walked back up the stairs.

"That's Mr. Yoshida, he's the second in charge of this village," Sora explained as she started walking.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto called out.

The pink haired girl looked back through the window.

"Save as many as you can," Naruto said.

Sakura smiled then followed Sora up the stairs. As she stepped out into the open, two guards flanked her. She ignored them and stared at the tall flames. Ashes fell from the air like rain.

"Sakura, this way," Sora called.

Sakura ran over and followed Sora's running figure. "How bad is the damage?"

Sora glanced over her shoulder, "Half the village is gone."

Yoshida watched the women's backs disappear then looked at the guards that were surrounding the entire courthouse. He glared at them and walked slowly behind the girls.

"Seita," he mumbled.

A man stepped from the shadows and fell in place beside him. Yoshida's guards were six steps behind him, so the two men couldn't talk openly. "Yes, Mr. Yoshida?"

"How bad is the damage, Seita?" Yoshida asked with a hint of worry in his voice.

Seita let out a fake sigh, "The whole entire southern half is completely gone."

"It's a miracle that this side isn't burning."

Seita glanced at Yoshida. "Yes, many are thankful for it."

"I've heard some say this side wasn't burning because of the ninja."

"I've heard the same. Do you think they have other allies we don't know about? They've already almost been released by failed attempts."

"It is possible. I saw one was wounded in that cell, he could've gotten that from one of the failed attempts."

Seita swallowed. "Maybe. The guards in the area should prevent any more escape attempts."

"Good, we can only hope the fire doesn't spread to this side."

"Yes," Seita replied and left.

Sora and Sakura had been working with the patients for over an hour. Many had come saying that the fire was under control, but the flow of wounded never stopped. So far, those Sora assigned to count the dead had reported 102 villagers had passed on.

"Ms. Sora!"

The woman looked up to see a teenage girl running up to her. "We're running out of bandages."

"Shit!" Sora swore as she looked down back at her patient. His face was completely covered in burns, as was his upper body. Sora was sure if he'd make it. As if right on cure, his breathing stopped. Sora tried to bring him back, but the body remained lifeless. She sighed sadly and straightened up, glancing over at the pink kunoichi not far from her. The girl had finished administering the poultice to a patient's burns and was wrapping the wounds.

"Sakura," Sora called out.

The girl stopped her work and looked over.

"We're running low on bandages. What does your village do at times like this?"

"Use whatever clean sheets you can find," Sakura hollered back then went back to wrapping.

"That's what I thought," Sora mumbled. She then looked up at the teenager. "Well, you heard her."

The girl looked warily at the kunoichi's back.

"What's the matter?" Sora questioned, letting anger seep into her voice.

"It's just, I heard she was a ninja."

Sora sighed in frustration. "A ninja who's helping our wounded. Now, if you don't do what she says then many villagers could die because of your damn stubbornness! Now go!" she yelled.

The girl ran off, tears in her eyes, to spread the order.

"You didn't have to be so harsh to her," Sakura said, coming over to join her.

Sora watched the guards follow Sakura over, and sighed. "I'm tired of no one trusting you guys and all the name calling they do."

Sakura smiled sadly. "It's hard to get used to, but we're fine. I just feel bad for Kakashi-sensei and Naruto. They both seem to be taking the names hard."

"How's Kakashi's neck?"

Sakura sighed. "It's not getting worse, but it's not getting any better either. They didn't let me get any more thinner from you so I had no choice but to cut a slice in his neck and drain what I could."

Sora looked in shock at her. "What did you cut with?"

Sakura smiled back at her. "They may have taken our weapons, but we usually have quite a few hidden little items to help us escape stuff. Naruto had a small pick hidden in his outfit."

Sora stared at her. "Then why haven't you guys escaped?"

"We don't want to. Besides, there's no need to anyways. We didn't do any of this and we only want your village to trust us, so we remained in there to prove a point." She sighed and looked out at all the wounded.

Sora glanced back at the girl's guards. They both were watching the kunoichi. One of them saw Sora's look of 'and don't you feel bad for accusing her' and looked away, uncomfortably.

"Sora!"

Both women looked over at a teenage boy weaving towards them.

"What's wrong?" Sora shouted back.

He stopped and looked at them in panic. "The northern side of the village! It's on fire!"

Those conscious in the room showed their distress loudly. Sora looked at Sakura then shouted back at the boy: "Where is it going?"

"The courthouse!"

"No," Sakura gasped and started jumping nimbly over the wounded. Her guards tried to weave around people, but Sakura was already out of sight, running down the stairs.

The guards outside their cell window shifted restlessly. They were told to stay at all costs, but no one said anything about dying with the prisoners by fire. A few had already deserted their post to help fight the fire, or to run from it. The ninjas paced restlessly in their cell.

"C'mon, man, we need to leave."

Tenten looked out the door's window at one of the nearby guards.

"That fire will kill us all. These people will be killed anyways, we don't have to die with them," the man said to the one next to him.

The other man just stood there, but Tenten saw his indecision. She looked back at her friends and a light clicked on.

Tenten walked to the middle of the cell, beckoning the others towards her. "If most of the guards leave, we can easily escape before the fire gets here."

"Hopefully," Naruto grumbled.

"Hey! Where are you going?!"

Tenten went back to the door and saw 4 guards on the stairs.

"That fire is getting too close, sir. It'll be here in a few minutes."

Tenten barely saw the one in charge. She saw him look back at the other guards. They were all looking at him, waiting for his command.

"Sir, these people will die anyways. Better sooner than later," one on the stairs said. It was the same one who had just said it a few seconds ago.

Tenten barely caught the "fine" that left the commander's mouth.

"All men, if you wish to stay, stay. If not, go ahead and leave."

There were a few hesitant looks, but then all the guards in the hall left. The guards outside the windows left as well.

"Looks like we got our chance," Naruto said happily.

He pulled out his pick and took Tenten's place at the window. His arm barely fit through the bars, causing him to flinch at the pain. Slowly, his hand reached the bolt, but he couldn't reach the lock.

"It's too far out of my reach," he said, bringing his arm back in.

Others stepped forward to try, but none could reach either. Naruto started kicking the door as hard as he could. It was solid wood of about 6 inches thick, but he tried anyways. Even Lee and Gai joined him, but they got nowhere.

Naruto gave the door one last kick then walked over to the window and looked out. The fire was only 1 block away, and closing fast. Its roar was almost deafening. Out of frustration, he turned around and gave the door one last hard kick with a "damn it!"

Coughing came from the hallway. Naruto stared in confusion at the door.

"Is some one out there?!" Gai yelled.

"Yeah! Hang on! I'm trying to find the keys." More coughing sounded.

After a few seconds, a head appeared in the door's window. The person didn't look up as they were focusing on the lock. Another coughing fit overtook the person.

"Hey, are you going to be ok?" Naruto asked.

The person looked in the window and croaked out, "Yeah, the smoke is killing my senses is all."

Naruto and the others looked around.

"There's no smoke in here," Tenten said loudly.

The door opened and revealed a teenage boy. His hair was jet black and down to his shoulders, his clothes torn and baggy on him. On his neck was a leather collar that was hanging loosely.

"My nose and lungs aren't exactly normal," he croaked.

He stepped aside to let them all through. Kakashi was last and as he passed the boy, he noticed his eyes. They would've been normal if it weren't for the fact he had golden irises and black slits for pupils. Naruto and the others were busy getting the other prisoners out of the cells.

The teenager smiled sheepishly. "I did say my senses weren't exactly normal."

"So it would seem. Thank you," Kakashi replied smiling slightly.

"Hey! Kakashi-sensei, What's-you-name, c'mon!" Naruto shouted from the stairs.

They both turned, but the boy collapsed into another coughing fit.

Kakashi knelt beside him and looked up at the others. "Go, I'll catch up!"

They heard him and hesitantly left with the other prisoners in tow.

"Go," the boy croaked.

"Not without you. You did free us," Kakashi replied.

He grabbed the boy's arm and helped him up. The boy barely stood. Kakashi wrapped one of the boy's arms around his shoulders and helped him walk up the stairs. They couldn't hear anything but the roar of the flames. Part of the building was already on fire. Kakashi walked faster. The teenager held his shirt up to his nose, but it didn't help much as another coughing fit took over. Kakashi took a firmer grip on the boy's arm and shifted him onto his back. The pressure of the boy's head on his neck hurt like a bitch. The lightheadedness was starting to come back, but Kakashi shifted the boy's head so it wasn't even touching his neck. The blood started flowing and Kakashi's vision cleared again. He looked at the walls of the building. Almost half of them were on fire. He stumbled through the smoke towards the front door. It stood wide open, but fire was nearly licking its sides. Kakashi went through fast and jumped off the steps. The roar was deafening now. Flames surrounded him. The others weren't in sight anywhere.

I can only hope they found a way out, he thought sadly.

"We're trapped," the boy croaked from his shoulder.

The heat from the fire was beyond painful, but there was nowhere to go. Flames had engulfed the buildings around them and the courthouse was halfway gone too.

Both of their visions started to sway. The fire was taking up all the oxygen. Kakashi stumbled over to a spot that wasn't on fire and collapsed onto his knees, panting. The teenager fell to the ground beside him. His eyes were closed and his breaths were ragged.

Sakura ran as far as she could. Others were trying their hardest to put out what glowing spots they found, but this new fire was hotter than the other, and spreading fast. She ran along the fire's edge, looking for an opening, or any spot that wasn't too hot that would allow her to pass through, but none were found. She continued running along its edge, her lungs burning from the smoke and heat. Villagers glanced at her as she ran by, but paid her no heed as they tried to contain the fire.

"Hey, get some stretchers!"

Sakura glanced over her shoulders at a villager's shout. Others were running towards a man that was standing near a small group that was huddled on the ground. Sakura turned around and ran back towards them. As she neared, she recognized the familiar green spandex.

"No. Gai-sensei! Naruto!"

The villagers looked up and backed off at her approach. Sakura ran up and started to look her friends over. They all glanced at her, some giving a faint smile while panting from the smoke inhalation.

"Kakashi-sensei?" she asked worriedly.

Naruto looked around. "He's not here?" he croaked.

Sakura stood up and looked in both directions. She looked at small amount of villagers left around them, "Have you seen a man with silver hair?"

They shook their heads no.

"Shit. Please get them to Sora immediately."

The ones with the stretchers stepped forward and lifted the ninjas carefully onto them. More stepped forward as those with full stretchers hurried off. Sakura turned and started running again.

The fire had moved in a complete block in the little time she had spent with her friends. Sakura felt her heart fall with each block she passed. Her legs were black from the hot soot and ashes that clung to her. A cough escaped from her lungs, but she sped up, looking desperately for her sensei.

Nothing.

Sakura looked ahead and recognized one of the buildings that she saw as she had started running along the fire's edge. She had gone in a complete circle.

Sakura stopped and looked at the small group of men working on the smaller fires around the area.

"Has anyone seen a man with silver hair?" she shouted.

People glanced up at her, shook their heads no, and went back to work.

"Sakura-san!"

Sakura turned and saw Kyoshiro running towards her.

"Kyoshiro-san, have you seen Kakashi-sensei?"

He ran up to her, shaking his head no. "Have you seen my son?"

Sakura stared at him. "I didn't know you had a son. He wouldn't have been in the courthouse, would he?"

"He should've been in that area because he was going to help your friends."

* * *

holy freakin crap...this has to be the longest chapter i've posted for this...or at least one of teh longest lol...and i've still got about 8 pages (not double spaced) left after this yay XD...i had a plot bunny attack so i went typing crazy on one of the rare boring days over this too short of a break lol...i think i have an ending in mind...but it's a LONG ways off...and i'm not looking forward to transitioning towards that ending...too much work and not enough ideas in some spots lol...but o well...not lookin forward to college either lmao...too much homework...again lol


	21. Chapter 21

hey i got an update in before a month lmao...yup...it's back to the old routine of about 1 update about once a month...ur lucky if u get 2-3 updates in one month lmao...don't fully blame me...blame college...also...about a week ago...i was in a beautifully deep sleep...and about 4 in the morning...i woke up fast...and 3 lil words passed through my head...then the plot bunnies spawned like there was no tomorrow...my eyes wanted to go back to sleep...as well as me...cuz hello i had a freakin test in second hour that day that i barely studied for...but my brain was wired...so i stayed up and typed the story...and i never thought i would've typed in taht genre...no no lemons or limes...u kno i despise typin those...but i posted the first chapter...and holy freakin crap...in less than a day i literally had 5 people place the story on their alert list...wow...wish that happened with this...but it won't cuz i update too damn slow lmao

o and the first chappie on that new story...is officially the longest i've ever posted...50 words shy of 4,000 words in that chapter...wow

dis: watashi ga chimamire no kuroi shinobi desu. (ha translate that lol XD)

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Sakura shook her head, "I don't know if I saw him. Gai-sensei and the others along with some other people had escaped and were carried off back to the buildings with the wounded, but Kakashi-sensei wasn't amongst them."

"He has a large leather collar around his neck."

Sakura shook her head. "I didn't see anyone like that."

Kyo looked back at the fire with fear. Sakura went back to glancing around, looking for any sign of her sensei.

"I'm going to take another run around this fire," Sakura said taking off.

Kyo nodded at her, but remained where he was. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a large sapphire. He looked up at the fire, holding the jewel tightly in his hands, and began forming seals.

"Everyone, move out of the way!" he shouted.

The villagers looked back at him.

"Please, unless you want to be killed!"

They glanced at each other and ran behind him. Kyo finished the seals and the ground around him rose up, both mud and ashes, and fell upon a part of the fire. A large hole of about 8 feet wide was created. Kyo wasted no time and ran through.

Sakura heard the noise of the mud over the fire and looked around. She saw Kyoshiro run forward after mud fell on a part of the fire, extinguishing it. Running back, she looked in the large hole and saw the still standing, burning buildings, but practically no path.

He won't make it. It's too hot, she thought worriedly.

Sakura stared intently at the opening. The heat started to get to her, but she didn't stop. A dark spot appeared in the flames and she figured it was the heat still getting to her, so she blinked. "No way," she whispered.

Two figures came into focus. They half stumbled, half ran to the opening. The villagers around her saw them and ran forward. Kyoshiro emerged with a teenage boy leaning on him. They collapsed outside the hole. People helped them get farther away from the heat.

Sakura ran over, "Where's Kakashi-sensei?"

Kyo looked up and back at the hole. "He was behind us," he coughed.

The opening was still the same size. One of the buildings near it collapsed. The flames from it rejoined the ones that were on the edge. Sakura ran to the edge of the flames. The heat forced her to stop 6 feet away.

"Kakash-sensei!" she screamed.

The deafening roar didn't allow it to go far. Sakura held up her hands to shield her face and looked between her fingers, but she didn't see any objects along the fire's edge. There were no shadows, no movement, no nothing. Hands grabbed at her arms and pulled her back. She half-heartedly fought against them, but eventually found herself back with Kyo.

"Sakura-san," a voice croaked.

She looked over and saw golden eyes looking up at her.

"I gave him my collar, the jewels on it naturally protect what's around them." He took a shaky breath. "As long as they don't run out of chakra, the jewels will keep him safe."

She stared at him.

He looked tiredly back. "I promise, he'll be safe. Those jewels have saved me many times."

Sakura nodded and smiled. The stress of the day was showing on her, but she did her best to hide it. The boy nodded and closed his eyes, completely relaxing. Kyo sat up, his breathing somewhat back to normal. Two men with a stretcher came over. Sakura helped them pick up the boy and place him on the material. Both she and Kyo followed the two as they carried the coughing boy to Sora. The walk back was in silence. At first, the streets were deserted, but the closer they got to the medical areas, the more active it became. When Sakura's guards found her, they held their weapons aimed right at her. She glared at them.

"You know the rules by which you were released," one of them stated. "You were not supposed to leave our sights at any moment."

"My friends were in danger," Sakura retorted quietly.

"You could've waited for us," the guard replied.

"You would've held me back."

"Enough!"

They all looked at Kyo. He was glaring between the kunoichi and her two guards. The medics with the stretcher were already gone.

"Sakura is right, you would've held her back. The guards are right, you should've stayed in their sights." He looked at the guards who had stood straighter with his agreement. "What you two need to realize is that her comrades were in danger of dying and Sakura had to help them. Right now, one of her friends is missing. It'd be best not to get on a kunoichi's bad side when that happens. Especially when she's the medic."

"It makes no difference. She broke her agreement," one of the guards said.

Sakura's fist clenched.

"Sakura," Kyo warned.

She continued glaring. "I don't see why Kakashi-sensei wanted to help those in this village when all they do is try to kill those that want to help them." She turned around and walked back to the buildings with the wounded.

The guards ran up and flanked her. She ignored them and continued walking. Kyo shook his head and looked back at the northern fire.

Naruto looked out at the room. They had guards surrounding them and the corner they occupied. The others they rescued from the other cells were with them as well. Many wounded ignored them, but those who did look at them looked at them with fear, and mainly anger. Only Sora had cleaned their burns and gave them any medicine.

"I don't have time for this, Mr. Yoshida!" Sora yelled at the man standing in front of her. "I cannot empty out a single room in this building just so you can isolate them in there! I don't have the room. Both buildings are full! They are fine right there in the corner. Now, if you excuse me, I have patients, and unless you want to help with the dying, I'd suggest you leave!" She walked around the tall man and went to the closest patient.

Naruto saw the man's mouth move, but he spoke too quietly to be heard. Sora didn't make any notion that she heard, paying attention to the patient only. The man said something again, but Sora still ignored him. Rage came over the burly man's features, but he turned around and stormed towards the door. Two medics came in with another stretcher. The medics and the burly man passed. Naruto saw him look down at the patient and saw his face light up in shock, but he quickly hid it and continued out the door. Sora glanced over and saw the stretcher. She directed them to the open area near their guards. The patients had abandoned that area when they realized that they were the prisoner ninja.

The medics set the stretcher down and carefully transferred their charge off of it onto the floor. Sora sat down by the boy as the medics left.

"Hey, it's him!" Naruto said loudly.

Sora looked up. "What?"

Tenten stepped on Naruto's foot with a glare. "What are you talking about, Naruto?"

He looked in confusion at Tenten. "Isn't he the one that-."

She dug her foot harder into his and he cringed just a little. "No, you're thinking of someone else back home, you moron."

Naruto got the message and looked back at the boy, "Oh, he does look a lot like him."

Sora watched them in confusion, but went back to checking her new charge.

"Ms. Sora?"

She looked and smiled when she saw Kyoshiro walking towards her. He smiled back, but looked over his shoulder. Sakura walked in with the two guards still aiming their weapons at her. The directed her over to the corner. She obliged, but the other ninjas could see the anger radiating off of her.

"What's going on here?" Sora demanded, walking over to them.

The guards stopped walking. "She broke the agreement that freed her."

"What'd she do?"

"She wasn't supposed to leave our sight, not even for a moment. She ran off and we couldn't find her for well over 10 minutes. Who knows what she did. We can't trust her to be free to roam around anymore."

"She went after her friends!" Sora said.

"We don't know that for sure."

Sora looked at Sakura's glaring face, then at Kyoshiro, who shrugged sadly. She sighed. "I can't believe you don't trust her."

The guards motioned for Sakura to join her friends. The guards that had formed the half ring around the others parted and she walked through and turned around, glaring at the two that had been keeping an eye on her before she ran off.

"Why don't you go make yourselves more useful now that you don't have to watch me," she spat.

They stiffened. "We don't take orders from the likes of you."

Sakura's glare deepened. Naruto was the closest one to her and he backed away slowly. As the two guards left, Sakura swung around in anger and punched the wall. The room grew deathly silent, all eyes on her and the large hole she had created. The other ninjas, including Neji and Sai, backed as far away from the pissed kunoichi as they could. A few people stared through the hole from the room next door. Sakura glared at the guards that had raised their weapons towards her.

"Sa-Sakura-chan, you didn't use any chakra, did you?" Naruto asked.

"No," she replied calmly.

The blonde backed away a little more.

Sora sighed. "Why did you have to create a hole like that? You guards are no match for a pissed kunoichi, so you might as well put your weapons down. She's not going anywhere anyways."

The guards ignored her.

Sora sighed in exasperation. She looked at Sakura, "Did you find Kakashi?"

Sakura looked back, sadly. "No."

"He was behind us when we were coming close to the edge of the fire, but he never came out," Kyo said quietly.

A cough sounded from behind Sora. "He has my collar, he should be safe." More coughing.

She looked back at the newest patient. He was coughing quietly now. She looked back at the Konoha ninjas. All of them had their heads down. Sora rubbed her eyes.

"He should be fine," she said more to herself.

Sighing again, she turned and walked to another patient. The noise in the room never started up for another five minutes. Those who did talk, whispered. They all feared Sakura's anger.

"How are we to know if he's alive or not?" Naruto asked quietly.

Sakura finally sat down. "I don't know," she replied. "I can't see how he can survive that. The fire was so hot; I couldn't get close to it. It was a complete ring of flames."

"It's Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said with a smile, but it wasn't as whole hearted. "He's survived falling off that cliff, those rapids, that waterfall, and nearly drowning. I bet he's survived this."

The others smiled sadly.

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we still know nuthin on kakashi...well i do but u don't...dontcha luv me? j/k lol reviews motivate me to type more on this...cuz i feel guilty bout not typing on this much lol


	22. Chapter 22

hey..it's an update and it's only been about 2 weeks..wow lol...annnnd finally...we (or shall i say you) get to find out about kakashi in this chappie...it's shorter than normal...but that's cuz i absolutely luvd the lil ending area that i found...and i couldn't find another good ending spot until like 5 pages later lmao...so this has to be short lol

dis: tihsh is priuly ffnacitoin, i wlil nveer own nratuo, sdaly

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Kakashi's eyes were gritty. His head pounded. His body screamed. His tongue was sandpaper in a sand filled mouth. He cracked open his eyes. Everything was dark. He moved his hands and slowly pushed himself up. A cool breeze kissed his warm body. He stumbled and fell to his knees, panting slightly. He knelt there, looking around. The breeze tugged at his tattered clothing. The movements of it on his right side made him bite back a scream. He blearily looked down and moved aside the torn shirt. Burns glared darkly back up at him. He pulled the shirt away more. The burns only went from his right hip to about the middle of his ribs. He sighed and gently let go of the shirt. He then looked at his arms. The old bandages were smudged with soot and old blood, but he saw no burn marks. The next thing he checked was the back of his neck, but as he touched that area, he felt something smooth meet his fingers. Kakashi grabbed it and followed it. It was large, and dangling loose around his neck. On the inside were large, smooth bumps. His fingers met a clasp. He undid it and held it in front of him. It was a large leather collar. On the inside were dull jewels. He only knew that they were jewels because they flashed faintly as he moved the collar in front of his face. Kakashi sighed and sat down.

He couldn't think straight. He couldn't even remember much. Pure exhaustion was overtaking him. Blinking slowly, Kakashi laid back down on his left side. He let out another sigh as the wind continued to blow across his body. The pain was slowly disappearing. He half closed his eyes and stared at nothing, enjoying the feel of the cool breeze on his numbing body.

Sora walked through the quiet hallways. It had been only one day since the fires. Most of the villagers were in the four large buildings. What was left of the village was 41 buildings total, including the one she was walking through. One of the smaller buildings now housed the Konoha ninjas. The ones that tried to free them were questioned and put to death not too long ago. They only held out on killing the shinobi at Sora's request, but that wasn't much. She knew the villagers were angry. There were only a few days left before the ninjas' trial. She tried to convince them to escape, but they said they would wait as long as they could until Kakashi, or his body, was found. Sora knew that wouldn't happen. Mrs. Aikawa's house was gone, and there was nothing but ashes where the hut once stood. She didn't see the elderly lady anywhere. Nor did she see Kakashi or Naoya. Now, the boy that Kyoshiro had hung around lately was gone. He had disappeared sometime that night. Sora knew she had to find the boy before dawn came, which was in a couple of hours. If she didn't find him, he would be looked upon as one of the enemy who started the fires as well.

She reached the first floor of the building she had been tending to patients in. There was no sign of him. She sighed and stepped outside. The air had been thick with the smell of smoke earlier that day, but now, it was clean, cool, and crisp. She inhaled deeply when a breeze whipped by.

"It's nice, isn't it?"

Sora whipped around. The boy she had been looking for was standing not far from her. "What happened to your voice?"

A rare opening in the cloud break allowed the moon to shed its light for a little bit. Sora could see him perfectly. He had a small pack on his back, clean clothes, and a smile.

"I healed it."

"How?"

"Simple medic jutsu."

Sora looked closer at the boy. "You're a ninja?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, kind of."

"What do you mean "kind of?""

"It's a long story, but if we're to find Kakashi-san, we need to hurry."

"How do you know Kakashi?"

"I've been keeping an eye on him and his friends."

The moon went back behind the clouds.

"Why should I trust you?" she asked.

"There's not much I can do to make you trust me, and to keep my cover."

"What are you trying to hide?" She heard faint laughter.

"Everything. I didn't ask to be born this way, but I was. Now, I need to hide and make sure what allowed me to be born is never found."

"And what's that?"

"No, not yet Sora-san. I can't tell you or the others yet. Please, I don't know if Kakashi-san has much longer to live. We need to hurry."

She continued looking at the dark outline of his figure then sighed. "Ok, but first answer me this completely. Why do you need me to go?"

"You're familiar with medical stuff. I only know how to do simple healing."

"Fair enough."

The boy smiled and turned. Sora walked after him. He glanced over his shoulder and started walking faster. Sora picked up pace.

"Do you mind if we run there?" he asked quietly.

"No."

The boy started running, but he kept glancing over his shoulder to make sure she was keeping up. She was. He looked ahead again. Even though it was nearly pitch black out, he could still see somewhat, but used his nose to avoid smoldering debris. The path became littered with more burnt buildings. He looked back at Sora. She was falling behind, carefully picking her way over things. The boy stopped and waited for her to catch up.

"Sorry," she said panting slightly.

"No, I'm the one who should be apologizing. I keep forgetting that you're just a normal human."

She shot him a glare. It sounded like an insult, but not an insult. A few deep breaths came from the boy's direction.

"This area is still warm and reeks of smoke. I'm sure this is near the courthouse area."

He reached up and fiddled with something around his neck. Blue light started to shine on his face. Sora watched as he continued to take off the material that had wrapped around the collar on his neck. When he was done, his face was outlined and shadowed by the light. He then reached up and unbuckled the large collar and held it out to Sora. Large sapphires glowed from the leather.

"These jewels are full of chakra. Kakashi-san has my other collar, which is also embedded with these jewels. As I said to Sakura-san, these jewels naturally protect anything they are around, as long as they have chakra. One jewel protects me from fire for about 30 – 45 minutes. I had 7 left on that collar. It should've been plenty of time for the fire to die down enough for Kakashi to survive it."

Sora stared in awe at the bright jewels. "Where did you get these?"

"I can't tell you," he said, wrapping the leather around his wrist and arm. The jewels were facing out, illuminating the area brightly.

Sora looked around. Everything was black with ash and soot. Some wooden beams stuck up here or there, a frame of a house, but there wasn't much left. Smoke still drifted out of larger piles.

"You said the jewels protected you from fire. How large was that flame they protected you from?" Sora asked.

"It was a small bonfire," he replied.

"This fire had intense heat. The burns on victims from this one were worse than those from the first fire."

"True, then the jewels would only last about half as long. If that's the case, then instead of keeping him safe for 3 ½ hours, they would only protect him for about 1 ¾ hours."

Sora stared at the teenager. "We need to find him quickly."

Blue light?

Kakashi swallowed roughly for the millionth time. He had never once moved from his lying position. His foggy eyes followed the bright light. It slowly bobbed closer, then farther, dancing everywhere in his vision.

If you're coming for me, then hurry up. I'm really tired, he thought.

A figure appeared in front of the blue light. It was slender. As it moved, Kakashi saw long hair. The girl was moving somewhat fast.

I wonder what she's looking for, his numb mind thought. Gods, I'm so tired.

A sound. So far away. It hollered something. Kakashi didn't understand it. He saw the girl running towards him, the blue light coming closer right behind it. The girl reached him and touched his face. A cool touch with a gentle hand. His head was moved. A girl came in and out of focus.

I wonder who she is? She seems familiar.

His pain completely disappeared. He swallowed for the last time and closed his eyes.

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motivation? comments? acusations of y i stopped here?


	23. Chapter 23

ello...yes i puposely typed "ello" lol...long time no update eh? lol...i'm really surprised that i've gotten an average of at least 150 hits on each chapter of my newest story "Sun Kissed Treasure"...really surprising lmao...although i prefer this story better cuz there's more action...and i nearly kill...or do kill...a lot of characters lmao...i'm weird i kno lol

dis: watashi wa naruto wo shyuu suru shinai

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"Kakashi! No! Stay with me!" Sora shouted.

She looked down at his side and felt tears fall down her face. The burns were bright in the blue light. His breathing shallowed.

"I need water!" she said looking back at Kakashi's face.

A canteen appeared by her head. She grabbed it and pried it open, tipping it next to Kakashi's mouth. The water trickled out and into his mouth, but ran out of it again.

"No, swallow, please."

She tried again, and again the water ran out.

"No. We need to get him to Sakura now!" she said looking back at the boy.

He formed a hand seal and another boy just like him appeared with smoke. One crouched down and gently lifted Kakashi, the other crouched down beside Sora.

"Get on my back, I can get us there faster."

She did and he stood up, taking off fast. Sora looked back and saw the other him running along just as fast. Kakashi was gently held in his hands. She buried her head in the boy's back.

Please, let him survive, she prayed.

The boys' footsteps started to echo. Sora looked back up and realized they were flying by the remaining houses. The boy stopped in front of one of the bigger houses. He was looking at nearby house that was surrounded by guards. He crouched down and Sora slide off his back.

"I'll clear a path, but my clone can't go inside with you. Once I let go of this collar, my clone will disappear," he whispered.

She nodded.

He unwrapped the collar from his wrist and handed it to Sora, along with his bag, while saying: "Give these to Sakura-san. She'll realize what they are when she touches the jewels, and there are herbs in the bag."

Sora took them gratefully and looked back at Kakashi as the boy ran towards the guards. Kakashi was lying on the ground, barely breathing. She looked back at the teenager. He knocked out two guards and when the others realized that they were being attacked. More stood around the door and watched, ready to jump in when needed. The boy grabbed the sword from one, blocked an attack by another, kicked the third, ducked under the fourth, and swung at the fifth. Another charged back at him. He kicked the man's legs out from under him. Two others charged up, swords swinging. The boy blocked one and kicked the other hard. He flew into the wall of the hut. The boy flipped the katana over and swung the blade hard. The blunt edge knocked into the back of a man's neck, knocking him unconscious as he flew. The teenager took the opening and jumped the four standing guard at the door. Using both blade and kicks, the four were knocked out before they could react.

"Sora!"

She lifted Kakashi carefully, draping one of his arms over her shoulder, and walked over as he ran into the hut. When she rounded the doorway, she saw more men being knocked out.

"Sakura!" she hollered.

A door flew open. Guards tried to stop the other shinobi, but Naruto and Lee blocked them. In less than a minute, all the guards inside were unconscious or surrounded. The kunoichi ran over to Sora. The older woman handed her the collar and bag while laying Kakashi on the ground. Sakura took one glance at his side and gasped.

"He's not drinking anything for me either," Sora added.

Sakura leaned next to her sensei's chest, listening to his breathing. It was getting shallower, and mucus was rattling in the burnt lungs. She checked his eyes, shined the blue light in them. They didn't respond.

"We're losing him! I need a lot of water and a bowl!"

The strange teenager threw his canteen over and raided the guards' stuff, throwing over their canteens as well. Naruto and the others copied. Sakura had over twenty canteens lying around her when they were done. Tenten ran over with a deep bowl. Sakura grabbed it, and poured most of the canteens into it. She then took another and tried to trickle it into Kakashi's mouth. The water ran back out. Sakura opened his mouth.

"He's badly dehydrated," she mumbled. "Sora-san, can you please prop up Kakashi-sensei's head?"

Sora did as was asked. Sakura opened his mouth slightly and poured some more water in again. This time, it didn't run out. Sakura smiled slightly and slowly poured some more into his mouth. He swallowed again, so she continued pouring small amounts slowly into his mouth. After a few minutes, she stopped and checked his breathing. It was still shallow and rattle-y. His heart was still weak. Sakura leaned back and concentrated on the collar in her lap. She concentrated on one jewel, dipped her hand in the water to cool it, and started to clear out the infection in Kakashi's burns with chakra. She repeated this process, making sure to keep her hand moist so it wouldn't hurt Kakashi's side too much. Once most of the infection was gone, two of the 12 jewels were out. Sakura poured some more water down Kakashi's mouth. He still swallowed. After he drank as much she liked, she went back to the burns. This time, she healed the worst parts of it. Only halfway through, four more jewels were gone; six remained.

"Try to save as much of those jewels as you can," the boy with the golden eyes whispered. "I don't have much left."

Sakura nodded. "We can place some poultice and other stuff on these burns now. The worst part is gone. All we need to do is make sure to get water into him, but we could still easily lose him. His lungs are burnt badly from smoke inhalation and the heat of the flames. I don't know if there is any brain damage either, from the lack of oxygen. I hope there isn't, but he was in the heart of the fire for a long time."

Sitting back, a large sighed escaped her. Sora looked at her then at the others in the room. Candles had been lit in the 30 minutes that had Sakura taken. Most of the guards were awake too, but they were rounded up. All were watching the kunoichi.

"All we can do is hope for the best," Sakura whispered.

"Will you leave now that we've found Kakashi?" Sora asked.

Sakura looked back at the others. They all looked at Gai.

"It'd be best if we didn't leave, to keep them from assuming it was our fault for the fire. But our mission was to get Kakashi and leave," he said quieter than normal.

"I wasn't talking about leaving the valley!" Sora shot back. "We need your help! Kakashi said so himself that our village was attacked by ninjas. The people in this valley have no skills when it comes to fighting ninjas. You need to help us!"

"We've been treated harshly ever since it was found out that we are shinobi," Tenten replied quietly. "Because of that, Kakashi-sensei could die any minute right now."

Sora looked at all of them. The looks on their faces showed regret and anger.

"This fight isn't really our fight," Sai said calmly. "We really shouldn't have gotten involved in the first place. The reason for all this fighting still isn't known to us either."

"Kakashi-sensei always said: "those who don't care about their friends are worse than trash,"" Naruto growled. "He wouldn't want to leave without trying to help."

"But where can we start? We don't know anything at all," Tenten replied.

"You know, don't you?" Neji calmly asked.

Everyone looked at the Hyuuga. He was looking directly at the golden-eyed teenager.

"Just who are you?" Sakura demanded.

The boy smiled. "I was never given a proper name when I was born, but there is one that a few call me by. It was Gintaro."

"Where are you from, Gintaro-san?" Lee questioned.

"Which 'where' do you want?"

Nearly everyone was confused, but Neji was smirking.

"The correct names of your birth place, the place you resided most of your life, and where you're hiding here in this valley," he answered quietly.

Gintaro smirked as well. "I knew you'd be hard to fool. I was born in a lab and have wandered most of my life until my father and master called me here."

"Master?" Sakura wondered aloud.

Gintaro's smirk turned to a livid sneer. "Long story that can't be told here."

"You didn't answer the third question," Neji pointed out.

The boy smirked. "We don't know who's listening so I can't tell you, but, I can safely route you to home with aid for your friends."

Sora stared at him in confusion. She looked at Sakura, but the girl's face was impassive.

"We would be happy to take you up on your youthful offer," Gai said; back to his normal loud self.

"So, you're leaving?" Sora asked quietly.

Gai looked at her, his smile faltering. "We must. Our mission was to return once we find Kakashi. We've stayed too long."

Sora looked at Naruto. The blonde didn't meet her gaze; he stared directly at the floor.

"You can't do this," Sora said with shock. "What are we supposed to do? What about Naoya?!"

"I'm sorry, Sora-san," Sakura whispered.

Gai stepped forward and gently slipped Kakashi onto his back. The others looked in apology at her too. Gintaro led them out the door, his two collars in his hand.

"I never should've trusted you! If I had known this would happen, I would've let you die!" Sora screamed at their retreating backs.

"My lord, your son has been found." Seita said quietly.

The man behind the paper door sat up straighter. "And?"

Seita swallowed. "He helped the foreign ninjas escape and we haven't seen him since, but Kyoshiro was hanging around him a lot during the time he was in the hospital."

"That weak rock ninja?"

"He's a ninja?" Seita asked with shock.

"Of course he is," the man said with a chuckle. "You village folk are easy to deceive. I will personally take care of Kyoshiro."

"Would you like someone to help you?" Seita asked.

"No, I've been restless for quite some time now. I'll take care of it myself."

* * *

ah ha...so u guys finally get to kno Meesha's real name...or as he said the name that is given to him by others...remember that boy changes into meesha usin chakra and so on and so forth...a lil background info on the name Gintaro...Gin means "gold" and taro is teh suffix put on teh end of boys' names and it means "first born"...i put gold cuz he has gold eyes...original ain't i? lmao...reviews?? comments?? congratulations on gettin to chapter 23 of this story?? j/k on that last one lmao


	24. Chapter 24

i kno i kno..."why haven't you updated!!" sumimasen...tests galore in high school...oi...and i've got 4 more to take this week in high school and i've got 3 to take in college too -sighs- and next week is spring break but we're goin on vacation so i won't be able to work on any story ideas...sadly...maybe in teh car though...we're driving all the way up to mount rushmore, south dakota...south dakota...from kansas...equals a long ass car ride -dies from mere thought of the car ride- so i might be able to work on story ideas stuff...that is if i don't get car sick from writing lmao

yes i'm from kansas...and i know u thought of the wizard of oz when i mentioned kansas so here's the answer to most of the questions that people tend to ask lol...no i've never met the wicked witch of the west because that's me on a bad day lmao...the a replica of the yellow brick road is in a mall a couple hours away...yes i skipped on it out of boredom lmao...and yes tornado season is fun (note the sarcasm lmao)

dis: watashi wa naruto wo shyuu suru shinai

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They stood near a cave. Gintaro had motioned for them to stay low, as he made sure the cave was unoccupied. They saw the black haired boy step back out and motion that it was all clear. All of them stood up and walked into the cave. Gintaro led them towards the back.

"Grab a hold of each other, it's really dark past this bend," he whispered.

The boy felt a hand grab the back of his shirt. He continued walking. They rounded the bend and all light was cut off. He felt his shirt tighten and he stopped.

"Please, trust me on this. I can see perfectly fine and my nose will let me know of any dangers."

"How do we know you're not leading us into any traps?" Naruto growled from farther back.

"Because there's no time to get any more outside help and if we don't do something, all the ninja villages will be in danger."

"Danger from what?" Gai asked.

"There's a certain stone that is only found in this valley that enhances anyone's abilities greatly. For ninjas, it provides large amounts of chakra if used correctly. The amount of chakra it would give the person would allow them to be able to destroy half a hidden village by themselves."

"Why have we not heard of this?" Gai asked.

"This valley has remained protected naturally by the stones, but I will explain the rest when we reach the end of this tunnel."

Gintaro walked on and he felt the hand on his shirt following as well. They walked for minutes. The air was getting heavier and damper with each foot. Water dripped constantly, echoing everywhere so no one could pinpoint the origin of the sound. Cool air started blowing against them. They walked out into an open room, but it was pitch black. Gintaro stopped and unwrapped the collar around his neck. The six jewels left on it showed brightly against his face and illuminated the area around them. A still, deep lake was mere inches from their feet. Stalagmites and stalactites were all around. The source of some of the dripping sound was water slowly coming off the formations above the lake.

Gintaro started walking again. He hugged the water's edge all the way around the lake. A small river ran off of the far edge into a crevice that was wide enough for them all, but they had to stoop to avoid the ceiling. Gintaro walked right into the crevice.

"Gintaro-san, wait."

The boy stopped and looked back. Gai had taken Kakashi off his back and both him and Lee were now holding the injured jounin between them. They looked back up at the boy and he led on. The cold water splashing from their footfalls echoed like there was a waterfall up ahead. Gintaro remained stooped and rounded a bend. He walked forward, faster. When he was five feet ahead, he straightened up.

As he stood up, the crevice went dark without the jewels. Sakura, who was now in the lead, slowed and walked carefully along with her hands out to avoid any hidden boulder underneath the water. Gintaro leaned down and looked back into the tunnel, his collar once again lighting the place up.

"Sorry, I forgot your eyesights aren't as good as mine," he said sheepishly.

Sakura glared and walked faster. She reached the end and straightened up while getting out of the way. The others followed quickly. The river continued running ahead, but a small, cozy little cave was stretched out on either side of it. Faint light trickled down from holes on one side of the ceiling. Their eyes adjusted and they saw the place for a small fire, some clay pots lining natural nooks in the wall, and large boxes spread out everywhere. Naruto sat down wearily on the floor, but no one paid him any heed.

"You wanted to know where I've been hiding in this valley, here is one place."

"One place?" Sakura asked. Her voice echoed softly back.

"Another has been Sora-san's."

They stared at him.

"We never saw you there," Tenten stated.

"No, you did, you just don't realize it yet."

Gintaro formed a single hand sign and disappeared in smoke. When it somewhat cleared, they saw a familiar figure sitting before them. It was Meesha. The wolf was calmly watching them. He shook his head and they noticed the leather collar around his neck. The wolf disappeared in smoke and Gintaro stood before them again.

"I'd like it if you don't tell Sora-san about that just yet," he said with a small grin.

"But why didn't you tell us in the first place?" Sakura asked.

"I guess I didn't fully trust you, you know."

Naruto heard them talking, but he couldn't understand anything they said. When they entered this cave, he couldn't concentrate anymore and collapsed next to the wall.

'Kyuubi, you fur-ball, what the hell is going on?!'

The fox didn't answer. Naruto stared up at the gate in his mind.

"Fur-ball! What's going on?"

A red eye wearily glared at him. Three words came like a wind to him.

"Chakra disappearing fast."

The gate disappeared and Naruto opened his eyes. He couldn't focus on anything. His head kept getting heavier and heavier. He lost balance against the wall and fell over on his side.

Sakura and the others saw him fall. She ran over, but the blonde's eyes were closed.

"Naruto?"

Sweat was starting to bead on his face. Sakura checked his pulse. It was normal. She checked his forehead, but it was barely warmer than normal from the humidity in the room. She opened his eyes and watched the pupils slowly shrink in response to the dull light.

"Naruto, what's wrong?" Sakura asked him.

There was no response.

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hey for once i'm not tryin to kill kakashi...instead it's naruto lmao...i kno i kno..."it's too short damn it!!"...sumimasen...again lol...it's the damn tranisition block...this is what that block is like: laksdjfoijaeiaoighas dkfj o look a butterfly lkajsdfoijaenfoei heeeey pretty sunset lajsdfoiengoaidgh sd damn!! i forgot about homework!! lasdoifeifjoaisd shit! horse escaped!! lksdjfoijerhgfoanfg ousdskdjfoiaej o crap!! i forgot there's a test tomorrow!! some one shoot me now!! lkjfaoiefaeoinaosidf

it really is a pretty sunset right now lmao...random...like normal...if u wanan read any more of my works..i have a deviantart account now (bought time i kno lmao) and it's tokumei-no-kizuato. deviantart . com (take out the spaces lol) if u'd like to read some original stuff..i have a few things posted on there..including my very first short story i actually wrote...and re-reading it...i cringe at the horrible grammer lmao...check it out and u can pm me on here if u wanna comment on anything...unless u have a DA account as well then u can comment on there lmao


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